


Imprinted

by shadowglove88



Category: Smallville, Twilight
Genre: Alternate Universe - Imprinting, Alternate Universe - Imprinting (Twilight), Alternate Universe - Metahumans, Blue Kryptonite, F/M, Green Kryptonite, Imprinting, Imprinting (Twilight), Jacob's inner wolf is ridiculous, Kryptonite, Metahuman Chloe, Metahuman Lana, Metahuman Lois, Possessive Behavior, Red Kryptonite, The Volturi are assholes as per usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-05
Updated: 2009-12-05
Packaged: 2019-07-05 04:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15856470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowglove88/pseuds/shadowglove88
Summary: Chloe, Lois and Lana head to Forks to get away from exes and life in Smallville... to be normal for once. They don't know two things though. One is that they're wearing different colored kryptonite necklaces... and two is that they've been imprinted on.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Don't mind me... still migrating old stories
> 
> Also, in this universe Bella never went to Forks.

"Someone has a crush on you," Lana giggled teasingly.

"Someone does  _not_  have a  _crush_  on me," Chloe mumbled, going to the curtain and peeking out of it in a paranoid fashion, turning back towards Lana and glaring at the huge smile on her face. "Don't  _start_  with me, Lana. There is no  _crushage_  going on!"

" _Right_." Lois Lane snorted from where she was laying down on the bed. "The reason why that cute Native American guy walked into a  _light pole_   _wasn't_  because he was too busy drooling over you."

Lana giggled in amusement at the memory. "It was so  _cute_!"

"Not  _cute_!" Chloe groaned, turning her back on the window and folding her arms defiantly over her chest. "He could have been hurt!"

"He's got a hard head, gotta admire that in a guy," Lois decided from the bed.

Chloe turned her glare on her cousin. "Don't you start with me!"

"Why is it that you can't just admit that some cute guy likes you?" Lois wanted to know, sitting up in the bed and looking at her. "I mean, I know that things have been kinda slow since you dumped ol' baldy-."

"His name is  _Lex_ , Lois," Chloe sighed, turning to look out of the window once more. "And I thought the whole idea about coming out here was to try and help me forget about that mistake?"

" _And_  to celebrate our graduation!" Lana agreed with a little giggle, going to the bed and plopping down chirpily on it.

"Right," Chloe agreed.

"And what better way to forget baldy and celebrate your graduation than to hook up with 'hunky Native American'?" Lois wanted to know, pressing her point.

"He was  _sixteen_!" Chloe cried, not getting why her cousin didn't seem able to remember that very important point. "He's a minor!"

"We're in the asscrack of nowhere, who gives a crap? Anyway, he looks older. If anyone catches you in the act, tell them he said he was twenty five. He looks it." Lois' expression was a lecherous leer at the memory of the male in question. "If it had been  _me_  he was running into light poles for-."

Lana and Chloe shared looks  _knowing_  what Lois would have done if it'd been her.

"I don't think your boyfriend would be too happy hearing you say that," Lana said softly, trying to reprimand sweetly, which was an odd combination Lana somehow always managed to pull off.

It was  _annoying_.

"Ex. Oliver's my  _ex,_ " Lois reminded. "We're ALL on the rebound, and since Lana decided to finally reveal her family home here in Forks I think we should  _all_  find ourselves hunky Native Americans, and get  _frisky_."

Lana pouted. "Lois, I don't think-."

"Oh come on, it's not like you're a  _virgin_." Lois snorted, and then her eyes widened when she saw the way Lana's cheeks colored. "Wait, what?" She turned to Lana, the unfortunate girl having her complete attention. "But how can you still be-? You and Smallville have been dating since you were in  _diapers!_  How is it that you haven't done the horizontal mambo yet?"

Lana pursed her lips. "He hasn't been ready."

Lois' eyes widened. "HE wasn't ready?" She burst out laughing, falling back on the bed. "This is so AMAZING! He's the blushing virgin and you're the villainous rascal pushing for sex! What has this world COME to?"

Lana pouted. "I'm not  _pushing_  for sex. I'm just-well-I'm ready, and he isn't. Every single time I tried to do something he would say no, that he wasn't  _ready_  for it, and I got tired of waiting on him to take the next step in our relationship."

Lois blinked. "You broke up with Smallville because he wouldn't have sex with you." She shot up and hugged Lana, laughing so hard she was shaking the both of them. "I officially  _love_  you."

Lana hugged Lois back, rolling her eyes with Chloe in amusement. "Well, I know this place isn't exactly known for its party life, and we're not exactly of drinking age so a bar is out of the question, but I heard there's an open air carnival thingy that they're having in town tonight. How about we dress up and go have some fun?"

Lois pulled away and hopped over to her luggage. "I wonder how little I can wear so that it's enough that my better bits perk to attention, yet I don't freeze them off."

Lana blushed scarlet. " _Lois_!"

" _What_?" Lois looked up, genuinely not knowing what had the shorter girl blushing.

Chloe smirked, going to her own luggage to change clothes. It was fun to be away from Smallville with her two favorite women, and since they were all going through breakups at the time, they were able to commiserate and talk about the evils of men in general while checking out every decent specimen that crossed their path.

Chloe had to admit, up until she realized that the boy had been just that-a  _boy_ -she had been interested. He hadn't looked young, and if it hadn't been for the fact that she'd overheard his friends talking about classes and mentioning their grade casually she wouldn't have brushed him off so abruptly when he'd gotten the courage to come and try talk to her while she was standing outside of a bookstore.

She kinda regretted having to do that, but she was eighteen, freshly graduated from high school, and sixteen year old boys were  _so_  not on her menu.

Anyway, she'd just come out of a complicated relationship with her one and only boyfriend of three years, Lex Luthor, and she didn't need to get involved in yet  _another_  promisingly complicated relationship.

" _So_  I got us all these charms from a magic shop in Metropolis before we left." Lois pulled out three necklaces that were beautiful, each with a different stone.

Lana's was red.

Lois' blue.

And Chloe's green.

Chloe smiled as she took the necklace and looked at it. "Wow, it's beautiful Lo, thanks."

"According to the store's owner they're all supposed to do different things." Lois grinned as she put on her own. "The red one is supposed to be a charm to help the user  _loosen up_  and enjoy herself to the max without letting her inhibitions get in the way."

Lana looked up at that, blushing slightly. "Way to be subtle, Lois."

"Who said I was trying to be?" Lois asked, looking at herself in the mirror. "My charm is supposed to strip me of my inner fortresses and leave me vulnerable enough to actually give love a chance…and make someone  _else_ vulnerable enough so that we want to build walls-together."

Chloe liked the sound of that.

"What about mine?" She asked as she put it on. "What does it do?"

"Well, that's the interesting thing," Lois admitted, giving Chloe and her charm an intrigued look. "The woman gave me that one for free. I was actually going to give you a red one as well—god  _knows_  you need as much freedom from your inhibition as Lana does-but the woman convinced me to give you this instead."

"That's really interesting." Lana grinned, standing from the bed, red stone resting like a drop of blood against the dip in her throat. "What did she say the green charm/rock did? Does it make everyone around her green with envy or something?"

"No, actually." Lois tilted her head. "She said it brought out the hidden talents in the user." She grinned. "The woman must have thought Chloe was talented."

 _I wonder if she somehow knew about my metahuman ability._  Chloe rubbed her thumb against the pretty green stone.

"You know, it kinda looks a little like a meteor necklace I used to have that went missing when I was a kid. But the stone's much more elegant and beautiful," Lana announced, going towards Chloe to get a better look at the charm. "I mean, look at the markings on the rock, and the polish job, and the  _beauty_  of shade of green alone."

Lois grinned. "It  _is_  pretty."

Lana turned and went to her already unpacked clothes, rummaging through them before pulling out a low cut shirt and a short skirt she hardly ever used. "What do you think? An open boyfriend cardigan and if Lois lets me borrow her stilettos…it will be a  _killer_ outfit."

Chloe and Lois exchanged looks.

"That's-impressively _bold_  of you," Lois finally managed, going to her luggage and pulling out her stilettos to lend Lana. "I wholeheartedly approve."

Lana just winked before heading with her clothes to the bathroom to bathe, singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" playfully and shaking her hips.

"Okay." Lois turned to Chloe. "I should have gotten her that charm  _years_  ago!"

The blonde laughed at her.

Lois went to her luggage, rummaging through her belongings, before pulling out a pair of skinny jeans, some pumps, and a striped V cashmere sweater. "What do you think?"

"I thought you were going for racy?" Chloe asked in surprise from where she was going through her own clothes.

"I was…" Lois nodded in agreement. "But for some reason I'm thinking that maybe not, you know?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. She wasn't exactly sure what to wear, but in the end she chose a stylish, low-neck button-up sweater dress that might be a  _little_  tighter than she was used to wearing but the idea was to have fun, right? She completed the look with boots and stockings to help with the cold.

The blonde smiled as she went to the window, looking out as the night fell upon Forks, for the first time at peace since her breakup.

* * *

 

Jacob Black was a mess.

"This isn't funny," Sam snapped at Embry, who seemed to have found the whole situation hilarious... both Embry and Paul wishing they'd been there to see it happen since they really couldn't believe it.

"Sam's right," Quill announced with a frown. "He imprinted on her and she brushed him off as if he was less than a  _bug_."

Jacob didn't even lift his head from the table, unable to believe this was happening to him. Ever since he'd become a wolf and became a part of the tribe, he'd envied what Sam had with Emily, even if it caused Leah so much pain. He'd wanted to imprint himself, to find his soulmate, to find the one person in the world who completed him, and while he was with his friends during a rare visit to Forks it'd finally happened.

He'd heard the sound of laughter, and though it was soft he'd heard it distinctively in his ears, and it'd caught something in his soul. He'd looked up, desperate to find the source of that sound, and his brown gaze had immediately found a blonde standing outside of a bookstore, going through the stack of books for sale.

She was laughing at something two other girls he didn't even pay attention to were saying behind her, the light reflecting off of her blonde hair like a halo, nearly blinding, her smile perfect, her smell  _addictive_.

Jacob had  _walked into a light pole_  because he'd been unable to take his eyes off of her and look where he was going.

And  _because_  of that her first glimpse of him had made him look like some sort of  _idiot_  who couldn't even avoid  _light POLES!_

His friends had been laughing their assess off at his expense at the time, and even though his face smarted and his nose throbbed, everything had been second to her, and to the fact that she was looking at him, her eyes finally upon him, meeting his.

He'd nearly walked into the pole a  _second_  time.

He shouldn't have been surprised at how she'd brushed him off so abruptly when he'd made his way to her. He'd looked like an idiot, she'd probably have thought him a clumsy loser.

" _Sorry, but I'm not interested in children_." Her words caused him to cringe even now.

"Don't worry Jake." Emily came towards him and rested her hand on his shoulder. "She's your soulmate, no matter  _how_  bad your meeting might have been, you always have a second chance to show her how cool you really are."

Jacob wanted to thank her for those words, but he was too busy being depressed and moping and calling himself all sorts of fouls names for having messed up such an important thing as first impressions.

He looked like an adult and yet she  _still_  thought him a kid!

"I just find it interesting that he imprinted on an  _older_  woman," Paul admitted. "I mean, we've had the imprinting on jailbait before, but never a  _cougar_."

Both Quill and Jacob glared at Paul for that comment.

"Look, I don't know why you're moping so much for," Leah, the most unsympathetic of the pack, announced. "You're not ugly, and believe me, she was checking you out even  _after_  you walked into the pole-which, by the way, was the most retarded thing  _ever_. So if she was still checking you out after that it says something."

Jacob turned to Leah, surprised and suddenly hopeful. "She was checking me out?"

"Totally." Leah nodded. "It was only after Quill said something about school and she realized how old you were that she stopped with the checking you out." She turned to Paul. "And for the record, she's not that much older. She just turned eighteen. Her and the two girls she was with are here to celebrate their graduating high school… _and_ to clear their minds after bad breakups. I listened in on their conversation a little. From what I could tell, Jacob's blonde seemed to be suffering the most from her breakup."

Jacob growled, his wolf fierce and angry at the thought of  _his_  mate having had another male before him-and that male having had the  _nerve_  to hurt her.

Sam and Jared watched Jacob in understanding, both knowing that they'd react the same way if they'd been in this situation.

Leah, who understandably  _hated_  the mere thought of imprinting, made a face. "Jake, stop being such a pathetic loser, make yourself look decent, and get your ass to Forks. They're having that thing in the town square tonight, right? Those girls are bound to be there."

Jacob brightened at the thought of seeing his nameless soulmate, but then frowned. "Maybe I should wait for tomorrow, you know, have my game plan and-."

"And while you're doing that she might find some hot guy in Forks tonight who doesn't walk into light poles  _or_ need entire nights to remember he has a slim jim and two cherries between his thighs," Leah cut in deeply.

Jacob stood up with a dangerous growl. "I'm going to Forks." He turned and stormed out of the house, banging the door.

Leah smirked. "He is so  _easy_ , it's sad."

Emily sighed and shook her head before pulling off her apron and heading after Jacob.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sam asked, getting up immediately.

"I'm going too," Emily announced as if this should be obvious, which surprised everyone because after the accident that left half of her face permanently scarred, Emily was always reluctant to leave the home she shared with Sam. "I want to know what Jacob's imprintee looks like, and I want to be there to support him as he tries to bond with her. This is going to be the most important thing Jacob ever does-this girl will become his  _life_. You all should know this by now and be more supportive."

"Well, then I'm coming too. To be  _supportive,_ " Sam declared, not liking the thought of Jacob and Emily alone in the car for the drive from the Reservation to Forks.

Emily, obviously reading her shifter's thoughts, grinned and rolled her eyes before leaving, Sam right behind her.

Leah watched them go with slight sadness before turning to the others. "Well, what are you all waiting for? An invitation? Let's go!"

"I'll get Kim." Jared grinned, pulling out his cellular to call his imprintee.

"Claire would probably like to go too," Quill decided about his young imprintee, something which  _still_  caused somewhat of a scandal but was tolerated as it was obvious that there was nothing sexual at  _all_  in the relationship- _and_  that Claire would probably  _butcher_  anyone who tried to take Quill (whom she had wrapped around her little fingers) away from her.

The werewolf pulled out  _his_  cellular as well to call Claire's mom, who knew about the imprinting and oddly enough, was glad that if it'd happened, it'd happened with Quill, whom she trusted with her young daughter.

Leah sighed, shaking her head, as she left the house to go watch Jacob most probably make a bigger fool of himself than usual.

_This should be interesting._


	2. Chapter 2

The whole town had lit up beautifully, as a local band played up on a platform, and there was singing and dancing and people selling food, books, jewelry and anything you could imagine. There were games going around, cotton candy being distributed, and Chloe was lost in the magical feeling and the way the town had just seemed to come  _alive_  all of a sudden.

"This is  _amazing,_ " Lana whispered, looking around, just as enchanted as Chloe. "We never had anything like this in Smallville."

"So true." Lois nodded.

She was a year older than the two other girls, but when she was fourteen and her mother had died her little sister Lucy had been shipped off to an elite boarding school in Europe and Lois had been given the choice to either be base hopping with her father, a General, or to live with her cousin Chloe.

She'd moved to Smallville without even having to really think the options through, and had grown up in Smallville in the same grade as Chloe and Lana due to the fact that she was a little behind due to her previous base hopping and the time it'd consumed.

"Hey." Lana waved at yet  _another_  man to wave at them. "The locals here are really friendly, huh?"

"I  _know_. It's smaller than  _Smallville_  and everyone's desperate to see the fresh meat." Lois waved at  _another_ male. "And they're not bad looking at all."

Chloe shook her head at her two best friends in amusement. Her green gaze went over the section of the square they were in, in which the stalls were selling the merchandise, and she grinned. "Look, antiques."

Lois and Lana exchanged looks.

" _What_?" Chloe asked, hands going to her hips challengingly.

"Nothing, really, its just that we're here to mingle and have fun," Lana announced carefully. "We should be getting to know the guys around us and not shop- _ooh! That's the cutest thing ever_!" and without finishing her previous sentence she drifted off towards the stall in question.

Lois and Chloe laughed, shaking their heads as they followed after Lana, who was oohing and aahing after some ornament that neither other girl found all that  _cute_  but instead found somewhat freaky since the kitten's eyes seemed to be  _following their every movement_.

In the end Lana bought the freaky little kitten ornament, and didn't dare comment when they drifted towards the antiques stall, Chloe immersing herself in the beautiful things being sold there, Lois even looking at a pair of earrings that she liked.

"This is really pretty," Lana declared, pocketing her kitten ornament and now paying attention to a gorgeous oak jewelry box.

"Forget that, these earrings are  _rockin'_." Lois held up the earrings in question.

Chloe smiled.

For having complained about her love of antiques, Lois and Lana sure seemed to be enjoying themselves at this stall.

Shaking her head, Chloe reached for a beautiful bracelet, loving the way the light reflected off of it. It was silver with a wicked looking wolf charm hanging off of it.

A loud noise caused Chloe to put it down and turn, along with Lois, Lana, and some others, seeing a group of young adults together, one handsome man having run into a stall and knocked a couple of things over, and  _another_  having tripped over something on the ground and having landed on his  _face_.

Chloe hardly noticed it though, because that  _boy_  was in that group, and he was looking straight at her.

She quickly looked away and picked up the first thing she could find, pretending to be looking at it.

Lois snorted as she peered in the group's direction. "What is this? Handsome Klutz Anonymous?"

"Maybe it's an inner ear thing?" Lana guessed, giving the group a look before turning her back on them and going back to examining the jewelry box. "No group of males could be  _that_  klutzy without there being something wrong with them."

"Maybe." Lois raised an eyebrow, giving the one who'd ran until the stall a long look, before shaking her head and snorting once more in derision, turning her back on them as well. "I'm just wondering if it's even  _safe_ to hookup with any guys from here. I mean we have just been shown three hunky yet  _totally_  coordinately challenged males… and what if it's something catchy?"

"Lois, stop being so mean," Lana scolded more on principle and out of routine than really because she disagreed, attention moving on to a hair clip. "Remember what I said about making fun of the less fortunate or those with some sort of disability?"

"Don't… it's fucks with my karma," Lois replied automatically, also not really paying much attention to her own conversation.

"Exactly." Lana nodded, bringing the clip to her hair and turning to the others. "What do you think?"

Chloe looked up and smiled at the antique bronze butterfly. "It's gorgeous, Lana. You should get it. You could wear it now."

"Really? It would look okay with the outfit?" Lana did a little pose in her provocative outfit, getting a wolf-whistle from someone passing, no one noticing the way a couple of males from the group previously mentioned had to grab hold of the male who'd fallen flat on his face moments ago.

"Nice." Lois gave her a thumbs up but then got distracted when she saw someone standing in the next stall. He was tall, and an older man, but still really good looking. "Okay, okay. I found my target for this vacation."

Chloe and Lois followed her gaze.

Chloe blinked. "The sheriff?"

Lois turned to her. "How do you know who my future  _daddy_  is?"

Lana smirked in amusement.

No one noticed how the other males had to grab hold of the male who'd walked into the stall at those words.

Then again, the group shouldn't rightly be able to hear what the girls were saying due to the distance between both groups, so the girls really couldn't be blamed for this ignorance.

"I heard someone greeting him," Chloe explained. "They called him Sheriff Swan."

"Swan." Lois smiled. "Lois Swan. How cool is that?"

Lana thought it over. "It's a little-err- _girly_  for you, don't you think?"

" _He_  pulls it off." Lois jerked her thumb in the sheriff's direction.

The three girls turned in unison and eyed the handsome sheriff with female appreciation obvious in their faces.

"Yeah, he does." Chloe agreed with a near leer before shaking her head to clear her mind of the gutter-worthy thoughts she'd been having. She turned to her cousin. "Okay, so do you  _really_  think its smart to make a play for the town's sheriff? I mean, you're only nineteen. Wouldn't you have a better chance at scoring if you went for someone younger?"

"Nah, he's an older man, and older men are  _both_  desperate to score with a young thoroughbred  _and_  they have the years of experience that these  _babies_  only wished they could have." Lois parted to them some of her vast carnal knowledge. "My best lovers have all been much older than me. None of the younger ones have compared."

"Not even  _Ollie_?" Lana blinked, a little scandalized but intrigued at the same time. "I mean, he's like- _wow_."

Lois smirked. "Yeah, he is…but while he's satisfactory in bed-my best time  _ever_  was with Mr. Jarvis."

"Mr. Jarvis?" Lana frowned. "Why do I feel like I know that name?"

Chloe's eyes were wide. "I  _hate_  you!" She exclaimed, laughing as she slapped Lois's arms. "Mr. Jarvis-hunk librarian in Metropolis Mr. Jarvis?"

Lois grinned proudly.

"Oh! I can't believe it! I used to fantasize about him since I was  _fifteen_!" Chloe pouted, folding her hands over her chest. "I can't believe you-and you never even TOLD me!"

"Oh my god." Lana's mouth fell open as she finally realized who the girls were talking about. "You  _didn't_!"

"No, I didn't." Lois grinned evilly. " _He_  did all the work and I just had to lay back and enjoy the ride."

Lana squealed and Chloe burst out into laughter.

"I know. I know." Lois admitted proudly, quite enjoying the girls' reactions to this revelation.

"I'm so  _envious_!" Lana pouted. "Even  _I_  wanted him for my first time!"

"He'd have made it worth it," Lois promised with a lecherous grin.

Lana shook her head, still unable to believe what she was hearing.

Chloe shook her head, believing all to  _easily_  what she was hearing.

Lana turned to Chloe. "What about Lex? How was he?"

Chloe's eyes widened and she blushed slightly before smiling and ducking her gaze. "He, uh, let's say he'd sown enough wild oats by the time we got together that he had the  _experience_  of an older man."

"Then again, you've only slept with him and no one else," Lois pointed out. "So you wouldn't know until you have someone to compare him to if he was really good or not."

Chloe raised an eyebrow at Lois. "Oh, believe me, even  _without_  someone to compare him to I  _know_  he was  _really_  good."

Lois blinked.

Lana pouted darkly, beginning to look around the crowds with determination.

Lois and Chloe noticed, curious.

"What are you doing?" Chloe asked.

"I'm getting  _laid_  tonight," Lana said the one sentence they'd never have expected to ever leave her virginal lips.

Lois choked on her saliva.

Chloe's eyes widened while she slapped Lois on her back to help with the choking. "Huh?"

Lana turned towards them. "I will  _not_  be the virginal perfect-girl-next-door with no sex stories to share anymore!" She returned to her search. "Help me search for a decent looking lay with no inner ear problems-because you never know how problems with coordination will affect a guy in bed."

Lois got this dirty look on her face as she cracked an evil grin. "Yeah, imagine it now, him aiming for the sweet spot but his coordination problems end up leaving him continuously poking your  _navel_  or something."

 _Chloe_  choked on her saliva.

Lana gave Lois a huge scandalized grin as she barked out amused laughter. "Stop it you evil hussy." She snorted with her laughter. "Just  _help_  me already."

"Well, there's that one over there." Lois went onto the bandwagon immediately, pointing to a cute blonde guy. "He looks like the type who knows what he's doing and won't be clingy in the morning."

"We sound like  _men,_ " Chloe pointed out, although she joined in the search.

"Hush." Both Lana and Lois smirked.

Chloe rolled her eyes, silent, gaze falling upon a handsome male with red hair and wearing shades despite it being nighttime. "Wow."

Lana and Lois followed her gaze at that one word, both tilting their heads, faces showing their agreement to that statement.

"Can I have him?" Lois asked.

"You have the sheriff," Lana was quick to remind her.

" _And_  had Mr. Jarvis." Chloe wouldn't ever let her forget, straightening her dress and hair, eyes on the redhead even though she was planning on letting Lana have him. "Ask if he has a brother. Or a cousin. Or  _something_."

Lana checked her makeup in an antique mirror. "Let's just hope he doesn't have a  _boyfriend_."

Lois smirked. "That  _would_  put a damper on the night of hot sex."

Chloe didn't know what'd happened next, but what happened right before it was that the redhead turned to them and smirked, pulling off his shades-eyes  _crimson red_.

And then people were screaming, other people were jumping out at them and  _biting_ them…and suddenly  _huge DOGS_  were snarling and jumping on the crimson eyed people biting the normal, screaming people.

Chaos erupted throughout the whole carnival, and yet Chloe couldn't move, eyes wide on the blood and destruction going on around her.

She gave a little shriek as she was pulled backwards out of the danger, and Chloe suddenly found himself hidden behind the antiques stall with Lois, Lana, and the owner of the stall.

"Tell me that they're not what I think it they are." Lois, who'd grabbed Chloe, took in a deep breath.

"Vampires and werewolves?" Chloe guessed, eyes wide.

"I  _told_  you not to  _tell_  me!" Lois whined.

Lana covered her ears with her hands at the screams and inhuman snarls. "What  _is_  this place?  _Sunnydale_?"

Chloe carefully peered up over the stall at the carnage happening. "And to think we came here to get away from the weirdness of Smallville for a while."

"Only  _figures_  we'd pick the town that gets massacred by vampires and werewolves," Lois agreed, not as terrified as she probably should be given the fact that they'd been living in  _Smallville_  all these years.

Continuing to peer out, Chloe's eyes widened when she saw the redhead she'd been interested in stalking three hidden girls, one plain yet somehow still pretty, another really young (around three or four), and the other who had a horrible deforming scar on one side of her face. " _Lois_."

Knowing that sound, Lois peeked over the stall and winced when she followed Chloe's gaze. "Chloe, you know we can't."

"What are you two talking about?" Lana whispered, peering over as well.

"There's a  _kid_  there!" Chloe whispered urgently.

The woman with the deformed face noticed the vampire coming towards them, and after quickly arguing with the other older girl, she hugged her tightly before standing, grabbing the complete attention of the vampire. She then said something that Chloe couldn't hear with the chaos, but made the vampire hiss and give chase as she tried to run.

But the thing was so  _fast_  it caught her and immediately threw her into a nearby stall, stalking towards her with deadly intent.

Chloe's body went tense as she watched.

Lois turned to Chloe. " _Chloe_ …no!"

Chloe turned to look at her cousin apologetically before rushing out from behind her hiding place and running towards the vampire (who had his back to her) who had grabbed the struggling girl and had bitten deep into her neck, causing her to scream in agony.

Not sure what in the world she was going to do, knowing she was  _no_  match for a vampire, Chloe reached for a fireplace poker being sold at one of the stalls and swiftly swung it at the vampire's head as it fed from the screaming girl.

The vampire snarled, looking up at Chloe in shock and bloodlust. "Stupid little girl!" He snarled, letting go of the girl (who was still screaming and jerking on the ground) as he turned to Chloe. "I'll kill you slower!"

Terrified, not having thought passed this part of the plan, Chloe tightened her hold on the poker. "Leave her alone!"

"It's too late for her," the vampire sneered. "Even if I don't bleed her dry the venom will kill her!"

Chloe sent a worried look in the jerking girl's direction and it was all the vampire needed to knock the poker out of her hands and grab her by the throat, lifting her easily off of her feet and cutting off her oxygen.

Chloe gagged, trying to desperately breathe, grabbing at his hands and squeezing.

The vampire laughed at her, and then suddenly stopped laughing, looking up at her in confusion. "What's-what's happening to me?"

Chloe's eyes narrowed, tightening her hold on him, watching as a trail of blood began to make its way down the side of his lips and he began to choke.

"Hey you." Someone tapped his shoulder.

The vampire turned his head towards the girl and his face  _swung_  with the blow of the punch, dropping Chloe and falling to the ground himself.

Lois took in a deep breath and cracked her knuckles, pupils morphing catlike before returning to normal. "I was supposed to be a  _normal girl_  for this whole vacation!" She kicked at the vampire. "I had my nails done and  _everything_!"

The vampire evaded her next kick and got back to his feet, charging her, the fight beginning between them.

Chloe didn't have time to feel bad for forcing Lois to do this, as she crawled towards where the girl was on the floor, body jerking erratically. Leaning over her, Chloe winced at the savaged flesh of her neck. "Hold still-I'm trying to help you!"

" _And these shoes were new too_!" Lois was continued to snap at the vampire as they fought, delivering a perfect roundhouse kick and sending the vampire flying into a stall. "Do you  _know_  how long I had to save up to  _get_ them?" She snarled as she stormed towards him.

The vampire was trying to crawl away.

Lana appeared in front of him with a huge  _wok_  in her hands and slammed it into his face with enough force to cause his face to  _swing_ , and he fell unconscious on the heap of broken stall. "Well, this is  _one_  way to work off my aggression."

Lois grinned as she reached them. "You're getting better at the wordplay."

"Thanks." Lana smiled brightly. "It's the  _Buffy_  reruns."

"Excuse me! Could use some  _help_  here!" Chloe called out.

"Oh," both girls remembered before hurrying to Chloe.

"Hold her down." Chloe commanded. "I can't do this with her jerking like that."

Lois nodded, straddling the girl and holding her down by her shoulders. "Do your mojo Cuz."

Lana kept watch, holding her wok tightly.

Chloe sighed and pressed her hand to the girl's neck, narrowing her eyes, concentrating. And then it was working, and the screams were dying down, the venom evaporating from the veins, the tissues and muscles regenerating and joining together.

And, to the surprise of even Chloe, the horrible deforming scar on the half of the girl's face began to  _flatten_ , and slowly  _disappear_  until her whole face was flawless and breathtakingly beautiful.

Lois blinked, getting off of the girl, who was gasping for breath. "I didn't know you could do reconstructive surgery too."

"I didn't either," Chloe whispered before her whole world spun, went completely black, and she was falling.

Lois caught her, grunting as she lifted the unconscious girl in her arms. "Remind me to get her to lose some pounds if I have to back her around every single time she uses her power."

Lana nodded before turning to the now healed girl, who was looking up at them in shock. "The fight's ending. Get to your friends and get to safety."

"What-?" The girl looked up at them in awe.

"You're going to be fine," Lana reassured her before getting up and following after Lois, who was already walking back to the house through the chaos left behind now that the werewolves were chasing the vampires out of the town.

Apparently the werewolves were  _good_.

Who would have thunk it?

"Wait!" The girl called from behind them. "Please wait!"

But Lana and Lois ignored her, looking at each other worriedly.

"How long do you think it'll take us to repack everything?" Lois asked. "We need to get the heck out of here before the chaos is completely over and people remember what happened-or that girl explains  _how_  she survived that bite and  _why_  her face isn't scarred any more."

"I'm a master at speed-packing. Let me handle that," Lana announced. "You get the things into the car and have it ready. Chloe should be unconscious until tomorrow. By then we should be safe and far away from here."

Lois sighed, lowering her head. "I know we did the right thing-but we'd come here to be safer and have fun for the first time since this happened to us, to be  _normal_  now that school wasn't tying us to Smallville and the life we had there."

"There'll be another place," Lana promised Lois. "We could always go to  _your_  mom's home."

Lois winced. "Yeah, I guess."

The two women hurried their pace towards Lana's family home, preparing to disappear in the shadows and never return to Forks again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to use this chapter to explain the changed background Chloe, Lois and Lana have in this story. Hope you enjoy :D

Jacob stood in wonder, just  _looking_  at Emily, like every one else was. Her face was  _flawless_ , not one mark left to mar its perfection, and Sam kept cupping her face in awe and planting amazed kisses on it, growling at himself for letting her get hurt and yet fascinated and enchanted with having her whole again. He'd loved her scarred up, but to see his love unscarred, knowing that she wouldn't have to suffer or be scared to leave the house and have people make comments about her face-it obviously overjoyed the Alpha.

"It was Jacob's girl," Emily told them, grinning as she looked at Jacob. "She just bent over me, placed her hands on me, and the venom in my body disappeared, my wounds closed up, and my scars just vanished! It was-it was amazing! I feel better than I ever have!"

Quill and Jared had left to take their mates back to the safety of the Rez, so it was only Jacob, Sam, Emily, Paul, Embry and Leah still standing off to the side as the town tried to recover from what had happened. Everyone in Forks was denying the truth of the nature of the attackers to themselves, but the shifters were used to that.

"And Paul,  _your_  girl beat the  _crap_  out of the vampire that bit me. I mean, she had him crawling away!" Emily was obviously excited as she told them what'd happened. "And Embry, yours knocked it out-with a  _wok_."

Paul grinned.

Embry folded his arms over his chest with a smirk. " _That's_  my girl."

"Doesn't anyone else find this  _weird_?" Leah made a face. "I mean, three girls come out of nowhere, are apparently some sort of creature that  _aren't_  vampires or werewolves,  _and_  the three remaining males of our pack imprint on them?" She shook her head. "Isn't anyone else asking themselves  _why_?"

"No." Paul shook his head.

"Not really," Embry replied.

"Never crossed my mind," Sam and Emily admitted at the same time and then grinned, besotted with each other.

Leah threw her hands up in the air. "I give  _up_  already!"

Jacob, who'd stopped listening to them from the moment Leah started talking, frowned, angsty. He knew from Emily's recounting of what'd happened that his— _still_ —nameless mate had fainted away, and he didn't like the sound of it. He didn't like that vampires had threatened her safety, and he'd gone berserk, tearing apart every single one he'd come across, but by the time he'd gotten control of himself to return to the scene of the massacre she and the other two had disappeared.

It was interesting though, that Paul and Embry had imprinted on her two traveling companions. It'd been kinda hilarious because they'd been the ones making the most fun of him for walking into the pole, but  _Paul_  had crashed into a stall and knocked tons of stuff over, and Embry had fallen  _flat on his face_.

There was  _no way_  they would ever have the gall to tease him about him and his lil' ol' pole ever again.

What  _hadn't_  been funny, though, was the conversation that'd kept all three wolves from gathering the courage to walk the distance between them and talk to the girls. Apparently they'd been judged and condemned as 'coordinately challenged klutzes' with 'inner ear problems'.

As if  _that_  hadn't been bad enough,  _then_  the girls had started talking about sex…that  _they_  had had…with  _other men_ …and how  _good_  those other men had been.

Yeah.

That was when things had gotten a little dangerous.

Sure, they were strong enough now not to shift at every strong emotion-but the fury and anger and desire to possess and prove their claim over their mate had almost been enough to bring the change upon them.

Especially for  _Paul_.

He was hotheaded on a  _good_  day, and here he'd just discovered his soulmate-who was already checking out  _Sheriff Swan,_  and was very happily recounting racy details about her apparently abundant and colorful sex life.

The only thing that'd kept Paul from marching over there, throwing her over his shoulder and taking her to the first dark corner to show her how he would  _never_  mistake her navel for her 'sweet spot' was Sam and Jared holding him back. And the only thing that'd kept Paul from shifting to his wolf out of his pure possessive, jealous rage when listening to her brag about the wonderful sex life she enjoyed thus far-was the fact that he'd found out that he  _couldn't_.

Change.

He couldn't  _change_.

Well, uhm, that wasn't exactly true.

He couldn't change into his wolf form while he was a certain distance to her, but when the vampires had appeared and she'd run away he'd been able to shift as easily as always.

Which really brought up an uneasy question.

What was it about that girl that was blocking Paul's ability to shift?

But, of course, that wasn't a priority in Jacob's mind at the moment.

He was edgy, anxious, his mind telling him that his mate could be hurt and his wolf telling him to go find and protect her, to look after her and nurse her back to health if need be.

Sam, Jared and Quill had told him about this, about the wolf's possessive protectiveness, but he'd never thought it'd be this  _strong_.

He was in a near desperate state, and he couldn't take it any longer.

Ignoring the sounds of his pack asking him where he was going, Jacob strode off, following the faint scent of his mate in the air. He was amazed at how he was able to make out her particular scent amongst the multitudes of scents, but he could, and as it slowly yet surely grew stronger his wolf grew more restless, knowing that it was getting closer and closer to its mate-and rejoicing.

The wolf didn't understand things like wooing, getting to know each other, asking for  _names_. It just wanted him to find her and claim her, because his mate without his claim was just  _wrong_ —unnatural.

He didn't even notice that the others had joined him until Paul jogged a couple of paces ahead of him and stopped in front of a house that used to belong to Michael Potter. The lights were on, and the scents of the three girls were strong in there.

Jacob picked up his mate's scent around the Yaris parked outside, and he couldn't help himself, going closer to sniff it, to get a better, thicker whiff of her scent.

Embry went up to the door and rung the bell, leaning against the doorframe.

Jacob turned towards the house when the door opened, and Paul's imprintee stood tall, backlit by the bright yellow light inside, narrowing her eyes at them.

"Can I help you?" She asked, not seeming at all pleased to see them.

Paul made to go forwards.

Emily hurried passed him and smile at the girl. "Hello, we wanted to talk to you and your friends about what happened tonight."

A slightly panicked look crossed the brunette's face before she went guarded, her grip on the door tightening. "I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen you before, nor did anyone else I might be with." She made to close the door. "Goodbye."

Embry moved rapidly, placing his open palm against the door, using his superior wolf strength to keep it open.

The girl's eyes widened at the strength. She looked at everyone in the lawn, counting. Her eyes suddenly narrowed and she shocked the hell outta everyone on the yard as she  _pushed_   _the door closed despite Embry's palm against it_.

The door slammed shut with the force behind her push.

Embry's eyes were wide in shock. "She-she overpowered me!"

" _Lana! We have problems!" Her voice was heard urgently inside. "The girl Chloe healed? She's a part of the werewolf clan, and guess what? We have the big bag wolves outside huffing and puffing."_

"She thinks we're here to  _threaten_  them?" Leah snorted. "Emily just told her that we were here to  _talk_!"

" _What are the wolves doing outside?" The other voice, probably of the girl named Lana, spoke. "Are they THAT territorial that they're here to challenge anyone who they think has peed on their tree?"_

Embry perked up at the sound of her voice, hand closing over the wood of the door in his effort to keep from kicking it down to get to her.

There was someone inside that home who was stronger than a wolf in human form.

They had to be cautious.

 _"I don't know, but we're outnumbered. I doubt we could take them on by ourselves, especially with Chloe unconscious_."

Chloe.

Jacob was a mixture of elation at finally knowing her name, and intense, desperate worry at the knowledge that she was  _still_  unconscious.

What had happened to her?

Was she hurt?

Why hadn't Paul's and Embry's imprintees taken her to the hospital?

Growling deep in his throat, Jacob made for the door.

"Jacob,  _stop,_ " Emily pleaded. "Don't go on instinct, think of this from their point of view. They think we're here to start a turf war or something like that with them."

"That's  _my_  mate unconscious up in there. Sam would do the same for you so don't try to stop me!" Jacob snarled, gaze going dangerously to Sam when the Alpha growled at him for having spoken that way to Emily.

"Men," Leah sighed, shaking her head in despair before pushing passed all of them and kicking the front door in, ignoring Emily's protests as she entered, hand on her hips, stopping when Paul and Embry's imprintees appeared after hearing the sound. "Look, we're not here to threaten you. Emily wants to thank you and we're here to talk to you all because you helped our Alpha's wife and we're indebted to you for it."

Embry's imprintee, Lana, stood a little behind Paul's imprintee, who was in a fighting stance, eyes narrowed dangerously and untrusting.

"So you thank people often by kicking in their  _door_?" Paul's imprintee was a fighter. "Save your gratitude next time. Now get the  _hell_  out of this house!"

"Why  _you_ …" Leah growled.

So did Paul, warningly, from behind her, letting Leah know in his own way that while she was a part of his pack, that he wouldn't think twice about taking her down if she threatened his imprintee.

Leah turned and glared at him.

Lana looked at them all suspiciously before turning to Jacob, surprising him by smiling brightly at him, earning him a jealous growl from Embry. "Hey it's you!"

If Embry had been in his wolf form his fur would have been raised like a  _cat's_  with his displeasure at Lana's smile directed towards Jacob.

"Yeah…it  _is_  you." Paul's imprintee relaxed in surprise, smiling at Jacob, causing  _Paul_  to growl at Jacob. "Hunky Native American."

"Pole Boy," Lana agreed.

If Jacob hadn't been so worried about Chloe he would have been worried for  _himself_  at the dangerous glares he was receiving from both Embry and Paul.

"Tell me something," The taller girl turned her attention on Jacob. "You a werewolf too?"

He nodded, not exactly sure  _why_  they were asking.

"Oh, okay then." She relaxed fully, sending him a mischievous grin. "Any guy who'd run into a  _light pole_  for my Baby Cuz is alright in my books and welcomed in my home."

"Although, technically, it's  _my_  home," Lana added. "Come on in."

The taller girl turned to Leah. "You're buying me a new door."

Leah's mouth fell open.

Ignoring her, the taller girl went to Jacob and smiled at him. "I'm Lois, and this is my friend Lana, what's your name?"

By now Jacob was actually beginning to worry as Embry and Paul were  _completely_  ignored by their imprintees, who'd cornered  _him_ , showering all of their attention and smiles on him. "Uhm, I'm, uh, Jacob Black."

"Jacob Black. I like the sound of it. Very roguish and yet dependable sounding." Lois linked her arm around Jacob's, Lana doing the same with Jacob's other arm, as they began to lead him down the hall towards the living room. "So, be truthful, you  _did_  run into that pole because you were checking out my Baby Cuz, right?"

Jacob, deciding he was in deep shit with his two pack members, stayed between the girls because the others wouldn't attack if only to make sure that the females holding onto him weren't hurt. "Yes. I-can I see her? I need to see her. Is she hurt? Is she-?"

"She's  _fine_." Lois grinned brighter, sharing a look with Lana as they reached the living room and sat Jacob down between them. "She used up a lot of energy by trying to take on that vampire and by healing your friend, this is normal so don't worry about her. She'll sleep it off and wake up refreshed. In the  _meantime_ …"

"What are your aspirations in life?" Lana confused the crap out of him by asking. "Do you have anything definite planned for your life after you graduate from high school? Going to college? Career school? Backpacking through Europe? Anything?"

"I-I'm good with tinkering with motors and stuff. It's my hobby and I've started this small kinda business in which people bring their cars to me to fix and I charge them less than a garage… so I'm doing that for now." Jacob didn't know why he suddenly felt like he was being given the most important interview he'd ever have. "I'm working on my Rabbit, fixing it all on my own. But I've also worked on some motorcycles and-."

Lois's eyes flashed with excitement. "Do you know how to fix a Ducati? Mine at home is giving me some problems and no matter how many times I take it to be repaired it always comes back with  _some_  problem."

"Lois…" Lana reprimanded softly. "You're getting off track again."

"Right, thanks." Lois beamed at her friend before returning her attention on Jacob. "So you plan on what, becoming a mechanic? Opening up your own garage?"

"My  _god_  you're nosey," Leah huffed from where she was leaning against the wall.

"Another snip from  _you_  and I'll make you pay interest for every day my door's broken," Lois warned her.

"It's  _her_  door!" Leah pointed to Lana.

Lana was ignoring them, eyes on Jacob. "You shouldn't take what Chloe said this morning seriously, she's just in deep denial at the moment, but she really was attracted to you, she wouldn't have acted the way she did if she wasn't."

Jacob smiled at that. "Really?"

"Oh, yeah." Lana nodded. "And, you know, your being a werewolf might actually give you bonus points. I mean, she  _did_  swear never to date a human again."

"Wait, what?" Sam asked. "A  _human_?"

Lois nodded. "Yeah, she was dating Lex Luthor since she was like, thirteen-."

"Sixteen," Lana corrected.

"Nu-uh, she started having  _sex_  with him at sixteen," Lois countered.

Lana made a face. "She couldn't have been going out with Lex earlier than that, it would have been just  _wrong_!"

"Which was  _why_  they said they began dating at sixteen," Lois replied sagely.

"But he was  _nineteen_  when she was thirteen!" Lana replied, scandalized.

"I refuse to repeat myself," Lois declared.

The werewolves were looking back and forth between the girls as they talked, apparently having forgetten about their audience.

Jacob's eyes were narrowed, his wolf snarling inside of him at the knowledge of the male who'd claimed  _his_ mate.

"Um, excuse me?" Emily raised her hand.

Lois and Lana stopped arguing and turned to look at her expectantly.

"Um, sorry to interrupt your  _fascinating_  conversation." Emily gave a smile. "But I was wondering, what exactly are you guys? I mean, only  _werewolves_  are supposed to be able to handle vampires but you two beat the crap out of that one-and your friend-she-well, you all know what she did."

Lois and Lana shared a look before Lois sighed. "Well, uh, the reader's digest version?" Her face went serious, as she looked down at her hands. "Well, uh, we don't exactly tell people about this, but, I guess, we know about  _your_  furry little problem…"

"What Lois means to say is that we're metahumans—kinda like mutants I guess," Lana explained, taking over the conversation and putting things out there without any hesitation. "We weren't born this way, but there's a specific meteor that fell on the town we live in and it  _mutates_  specific people who are exposed to it directly for a certain amount of time."

"It happened the third month after I moved to Smallville," Lois continued on as if Lana hadn't interrupted. "I was fourteen and Chloe and Lana were thirteen. At the time Lana wasn't our friend because she was annoyingly perfect and we couldn't stand her."

Lana rolled her eyes at Lois.

"But then the freak of the week tried to kill Lana again…"

"That one  _abducted_  me," Lana corrected.

"Oh, right." Lois nodded. "Metahuman men—and some women-tend to want to either kiss, kill and/or kidnap Lana, so she tends to stay as far away from them as possible when it's not me or Chloe. But, well, getting on with the story...the freak of the week  _kidnapped_  Lana, and Chloe figured out where he was keeping her."

"It was in this  _horrible_  underground cave." Lana shivered at the very memory.

"Well, so, Chloe, Smallville and I went down to save her, but Smallville got sick and couldn't go any further so Chloe and I went in by ourselves." Lois didn't explain who  _Smallville_  was, and Jacob really didn't care, riveted by the story. "We got into a fight with the freak, and his sonar blasts actually caused the cave to collapse  _on him_  and we got trapped inside. With a  _truckload_  of meteor rocks around above and beneath us."

"The good thing was that since Clark was outside he heard when the collapse happened, and he was able to go for help." Lana pulled a strand of straight dark brown hair behind her ear. "The problem was that considering how fragile the cave was in itself, it took a week to get us out. The only good thing was that there were small holes that let in oxygen, and Trevor had stocked up the place so that we could live there comfortably for  _months_."

"Wait, I thought it was  _Tony_  who'd kidnapped you that time." Lois turned to Lana, frowning. "Wasn't Trevor the one who ate his mom and wanted to mate with you?"

Embry snarled.

"No, no, no. That was  _Greg._ " Lana shook her head. "Tony's the one who tried to turn me into his Ice Queen and held me captive under the frozen lake."

Lois frowned. "I thought that was  _David_."

"No. David was the one who had me hostage in the cabin in the woods and tried to get me to used to the taste of eating  _bark,_ " Lana patiently corrected.

"Oh,  _right_!" Lois nodded. "The nature survivalist freak!"

Both girls smiled at each other, completely oblivious once more to their fascinated, and somewhat horrified, audience.

Lois, suddenly realizing that she'd veered off of topic  _again_  cleared her throat rapidly. "Well, thanks to  _Trevor_ we were able to survive the week underground, and it helped us to bond with Lana, who  _really_  wasn't as annoying as she looked."

Lana made a face at Lois.

Lois strived on. "We got out, became best friends, and two days later Lana gets stuck in the wall."

" _What_?" Embry asked, frowning, sitting down because  _obviously_  this next part required the mate of someone who could get  _stuck in walls_  to sit down.

"Uh-huh, it was comical. One minute she's leaning against the wall bemoaning her perfect life, and the next she'd phased  _through_  the wall halfway. It was  _hilarious_!" Lois grinned evilly. "Her  _ass_  was sticking out the other side of the wall and her body was completely stuck in the wall itself, her head and hands and feet sticking out the other side."

Lana covered her face in mortification.

"It took us an hour to figure out how in the world to get her out without bulldozing the wall." Lois leaned back against the sofa.

"Chloe figured it was based on my emotions somehow and tickled the bottom of my foot until I was shrieking in laughter and just kinda, well, kinda finished phasing through the wall completely and fell into the other room," Lana admitted, pulling her hands from her face.

"We began to suspect that  _maybe_  we hadn't gotten scotch free from the meteors as we'd expected," Lois added.

"And when in a couple of days I was able to do  _this..._ " Lana motioned with her hand, phasing it through  _Jacob's arm_  to the astonishment of those watching. "Well, I kinda hoped I wasn't the only one freaked by the meteors."

"And Chloe and I were hoping she  _was,_ " Lois admitted with a sigh. "And then  _mine_  manifested itself."

Lana winced at the memory.

Paul decided to sit down next to Embry.

"For the first time  _ever_  a freak had decided to mess with me." Lois leaned forwards as she spoke. "Usually they go after Lana, and sometimes Chloe, but  _never_  me. But Mitch and I had never gotten along after I rejected him by telling him that only after a lobotomy would I  _ever_  think about going out with him-so when he got his powers he tried to use them to get back at me."

"He got stung by his pet scorpion, which we later found out he was giving water with distilled meteor rocks in it to drink because it turned the scorpion this psychedelic green color," Lana supplied extra information, fleshing out the story. "So he got this power that made it so that anyone he scratched were poisoned."

"He naturally came after me, and during the fight something just kinda switched on." Lois made a face at the memory. "Suddenly I could see in a different way,  _move_  in a different way-and I beat the  _crap_  outta him." She grinned brightly, quite proud of herself.

Paul grinned proudly as well as he watched her in uncharacteristic silence.

"I'd been taught to fight by my father, and its like the meteors made everything about me  _more,_ " Lois explained. "I could move faster, swifter, I was  _way_  stronger-there isn't a jar in this world I can't open-I can see in the dark, and my senses are stronger than a normal person's."

"She's kinda like a cat," Lana added.

"So, with two out of three freaked by the glowy rocks, we all waited on Chloe's metahumanity to show its ugly head." Lois fingered a pretty blue stone hanging from around her neck. "And it didn't take long for that to happen."

"Lex was forced by his father to move to Smallville, a punishment of sorts." Lana took over the storytelling. "He got drunk, ran off the bridge we were walking on, and into the water below. Chloe didn't think twice. She just dived in after him, and Lois and I followed. We got him out of the car but he wasn't breathing, he was drowned, dead."

"Until Chloe cried over him and  _wham_." Lois clapped her hands together for dramatic effect. "There's this horrible flash of light and he's breathing and Chloe's not."

"That was the first and only time she's died," Lana informed them. "But she came back after about five minutes. Ever since then Lex was close to her and she was able to, uh, heal."

"Yeah." Lois nodded. "So we've kinda been stuck trying to prove that not all metahumans go insane and kill everyone by going up against all the stuff that happen in Smallville. That's why when we graduated we left there in a hurry, to just have a fun time somewhere boringly  _normal_  for once."

The shifters all shared looks at that.

"We have to be careful who we reveal our abilities to," Lana admitted. "There are…there are  _people_  who kidnap our kind and experiment on them…do  _horrible_  things to them."

Embry and Paul went tense.

Jacob did as well.

He wasn't going to let anything bad happen to Chloe.

Now that he'd found her she would be safe.

"So, that's our story…reader's digest format…kinda…maybe…" Lois rubbed her hands nervously on her thighs. "Any questions?"

"Yeah," a voice declared from the doorway, causing everyone to look in that direction. "Why is the front door broken in and  _why_  are we disclosing classified information to total strangers?"

Jacob stood up rapidly, eyes widening as his gaze fell upon Chloe.

She was still wearing that beautiful sweater dress and black stockings, though she wasn't wearing shoes and her hair was tousled from everything…

…it was  _perfect_.

Chloe's gaze found his and her eyes widened. "Hey."

Jacob knew he had to take time, get to know her, become her friend. He was going to be patient, be an example to both Embry and Paul. He was…

Before he could even finish that thought Jacob had crossed the room, grabbed Chloe, and pulled her tightly to him. His lips descended on hers without any warning in a starving, desperate,  _claiming_  kiss.

So much for being patient.


	4. Chapter 4

Chloe wasn't exactly sure what was going on.

One minute she'd awoken to the sound of Lois and Lana spilling their  _guts_  to a bunch of strangers, and then she'd realized that Pole Boy was there, and then he was stalking towards her, gaze  _animalistic_ … and he was  _kissing_  her.

Confused, not quite sure how one was supposed to react in this sort of situation, Chloe froze, gasping into the kiss as the handsome Native American pushed her back against the wall with a thud.

Something inside of Chloe reacted, a near purr escaping her lips and before she even realized it she was kissing back, hands digging deep into his ponytail, teeth nibbling on his bottom lip, leg trailing up his to curl around his waist.

A mixture of a growl and a whimper escaped his mouth into hers as he pressed her harder against the wall, letting her feel just how  _much_  he approved of that action.

And then-and then Chloe snapped out of it and she gasped, horrified by her behavior, and she unhooked her leg, pushing him away from her. When he moved towards her again her arm flew out and slapped him with enough to cause his head to turn and a red print to form on his cheek. "What the  _hell_?"

"Fuck!" He cried out, cradling his jaw. "You broke my  _jaw_!"

Two males looked at Lois and Lana before they exchanged nervous looks.

" _Please_ , if she'd broken your jaw you wouldn't be able to speak!" A pretty female announced, looking completely entertained with the situation. "And what did you expect when you practically sexually  _molested_  her before even introducing yourself you idiot?"

Mortified, Chloe's green gaze took in just  _how many people_  had just witnessed her melting down into a  _hussy_ seconds ago. Her face flushed red in frustration, confusion, and embarrassment. "Don't you  _laugh_!" She snapped at Lois, while Lana was just grinning at her. "What the  _hell_  is going on here?"

And that was how she got caught up to date with the situation. She sat on the sofa arm next to Lana, keeping a large, distrustful distance between her and the one named Jacob Black-or, whom she now liked to call-Tentacles. "So you're all wolf shifters, you know that we're metahumans, and vampires are bad. Okay. We're all up to date."

Jacob watched her intensely from where he was leaning against the wall, hand against his apparently  _still_  throbbing jaw.

Chloe ignored him.

"That part I get and have no problem with," she admitted, running a hand through her hair. "The part I'm having problems understanding is why we're discussing this. Why would you come to us and tell us your secret?"

Lois and Lana paused, looking at each other. They obviously hadn't thought that, and now that Chloe had asked the question so were they, even if only in their minds.

"This can't be just an act of good faith?" Sam asked vaguely, leaning backwards on one of the sofas.

Chloe sneered, leaning forwards. "Now, you see, you're questioning our intelligence." She kept her narrowed eyes on Sam's, not letting his gaze go. "If you'd just wanted to  _thank_  us for our help, then all you had to do was  _leave_  after Lois slammed her door on your face. The  _fact_  that hothead over here showed off his inhuman strength on purpose means you came here with the mentality to show us your canine-side… and since you're guardians and your identities are vital to keep secret and it's  _idiotic_  to just be telling every other person… there's a reason behind this that you still haven't told us."

The werewolves were silent, a little uncomfortable.

Sam shifted nervously under her intense gaze.

Lois and Lana shared suspicious looks, going on guard for the first time since they'd taken to Jacob and manhandled him.

Jacob just grinned at Chloe, as if he was  _proud_  of her for putting his Alpha in such a tough spot.

Chloe continued to visually ignore Jacob Black… but she could  _sense_  this… and it bothered her more than she was ever put into words.

Leah looked like she wanted to chuck a lamp at Sam and scream for him to carry on… to stop  _fidgeting_  under the tiny blonde's suspicious glare.

"How much do you know about werewolves, Chloe? Or Wolves in general?" Emily asked, causing Chloe and the others to turn to look at her.

Chloe thought the question over for a moment. "Not much, actually. I know that in  _real_  werewolves there's a lunar cycle to their changes-so you're more shifter than werewolves-and I know that werewolves can't be held accountable for what they do under the light of the moon. They have no control of the beast, and most try to lock themselves up so that they don't hurt anyone while under the call of the predator's instinct."

Sam relaxed now that Chloe's hard gaze wasn't on him.

"We've come up against a couple of werewolves in Smallville." Lois winced at the memory. "Not a good memory. They were rogues though, not caring what their wolves did on the full moons or how many innocents got hurt. Thankfully a metahuman can't become infected by a werewolf virus because we're  _already_  infected by the meteor one, otherwise all three of us would be werewolves from the scratches and bites we received from those confrontations."

Paul frowned, gaze on Lois.

"So, we have to admit, we weren't the happiest of campers when all of a sudden huge  _wolves_  appeared in the midst of the vampires. We automatically assumed, due to past experiences, that you were either working together with the vampires and had had a falling out, or you were angry that your hunting zone was being targeted by another predator," Lana admitted, grabbing the red stone resting against the indent of her collarbone. "I mean, Chloe said so, we've met some good wolves, but mostly they've given into the Instinct and just end up being rabid animals needed to be taken care of."

Embry  _gulped_.

Chloe narrowed her eyes.

She'd noticed the two named Paul and Embry staring with scary  _intensity_  at Lois and Lana, as if unable to look at anything else that wasn't them. Anything the girls said the boys reacted to, mostly in worry though-but also in fascination.

It kinda reminded Chloe a little of Jacob Black's attitude.

It was annoying…in a hot-kinda-way.

"Anything else?" Emily asked in the silence, giving the three girls a comforting, encouraging smile. "That you know about wolves or werewolves?"

"They're pack animals., Lois offered, motioning to the large group in the living room. "They form these tight, unbreakable bonds with their family that they never break."

"Unless they're challenging the Alpha for dominance," Jacob corrected.

"Or someone threatens their mate," Paul added with a glare to Leah.

Leah just snorted and rolled her eyes at him as if calling him an idiot.

Chloe really liked that girl.

Lana's eyes widened. "You mean that the whole 'mate' thing exists for you guys as well? You have mates?"

Emily nodded, grinning. "Yes. It's called Imprinting for us though. A wolf sees his or her mate and knows he or she is the only one for them because suddenly there's this glowing light around them and everything about that person enhances. From then on there can be no other person for the wolf, and he or she will dedicate their actions to winning and keeping the mate. Nothing will stand in the way."

There was a moment's silence as Chloe, Lana and Lois shared looks at that.

"How…" Lois blinked, finally breaking the silence. "How- _archaic_!" She sneered, shaking her head. "I mean, what girl would want to hear that she has  _no choice_  but to be with some big, furry, horny, giant teddy bear for the rest of her natural life?"

Paul frowned, looking oddly hurt, slumping a little in his seat.

"I agree." Lana nodded. "I mean, I don't want to offend you wolves or mates, but I'm glad that hasn't happened to  _me_."

Embry lowered down next to Paul, hair falling into his face, unable to keep the little whimper from leaving his lips.

Chloe raised an eyebrow, looking from the two wolves to Lois and Lana… and back.

"I mean," Lana continued, completely oblivious to the wolves' nervous tension or Chloe's growing suspicion. "I just think about  _having_  to be with one guy for the rest of my life because  _he_  can't ever be with someone else? It's a little pitiful, you know? What if I don't love him? Knowing  _my_  personality I'd probably just stay with him because I was sorry for him."

Embry closed his eyes tightly and looked down at his lap, his hands trembling from the force with which he was clenching his fists at his side.

"And  _me_  be with  _one_  guy for the rest of my life?" Lois snorted in amusement at the very  _thought_. "I mean, how boring would  _that_  be? I love to be wild and free and enjoy life at its fullest if you get what I mean."

Paul seemed to be getting what she meant, because his eyes were narrowed, his body shaking discreetly, his eyes looking almost canine.

Chloe's eyes widened.  _No way!_

Lana grinned. " _I_  get what you mean, and I totally agree. I mean, we're young, why be tied down-."

"Girls…" Chloe cut in.

"Yeah?" They asked in unison.

"Shut up." The blonde laughed with amazement as she ran her hands over her hair. "Okay, okay,  _finally_  this whole thing is making sense to me now!" She stood up, hands on her hips, looking from Paul and Embry to Lana and Lois and back. "This makes  _complete_  sense now!"

"What does?" Lana asked.

Lois eyed her uneasily. "Why did we need to shut up?"

"Well…" Chloe turned to her friends and sniggered. "Because your  _imprinters_  were either going to phase into wolf forms or die of embarrassment if you two went on."

For a moment Lana and Lois only looked at Chloe in confusion before their eyes widened in horror and they shot out the sofa, rounding behind it as if to protect themselves. "WHAT?!"

"Lana, meet your Imprinter, Embry." Chloe laughed, getting an unholy pleasure out of this situation and seeing the girls twitch. "Lois, meet your Imprinter, Paul." She  _tried_  not to laugh. "May you live long lives and have many healthy litters of puppies."

Lana and Lois shrieked, throwing their cushions at Chloe for her absolutely wicked  _amusement_  with the situation.

"Better you than me," the blonde snickered, holding her hand to silence them when she heard her phone ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and her eyes widened when she saw the caller I.D. " _Lex_?"

Ignoring a low growl, not really caring about the wolves at that moment, Chloe answered the call and began to walk away from them, to find some privacy. "Lex?"

"Chloe." His voice filled her ears. "I-how are you?"

"Uhm, I-," Chloe gave a little gasp when in seconds she was pinned to the wall again, a growling Jacob Black snarling at the phone, jealousy and animalistic possessiveness in his face.

" _Chloe_?" Lex's voice could be heard from the cellular. " _Are you okay_? What's that sound?"

" _Mine,_ " Jacob growled at her.

Chloe's wide eyes widened further as the full reality of the situation hit her fully. "Oh my god."

" _Chloe_?" Lex asked.

Chloe brought the phone to her ear again, slowly, not taking her gaze from Jacob's. "Uhm, Lex? I'm going to have to call you back."

"Sure…I-are you okay?" Lex asked, sounding a little worried.

"I'm fine," Chloe responded slowly.

"What was that sound?" Lex wanted to know. "It sounded like a rabid  _dog_."

"I guess you could call him that." Chloe continued to stare at Jacob. "Apparently my Christmas gift came in early this year and Santa has a  _disturbing_  sense of humor."

"Huh?" Lex was confused.

"I really have to call you back." Hanging up the phone, Chloe narrowed her eyes at Jacob. "You tell me you Imprinted on me and I'll punch you so  _help_  me god."

"Okay then." He grinned at her, now amused. "I  _won't_  say it and leave it as a given. You've proven you're intelligent enough to pick up on the subtle hints."

She glared at him. " _Great_ , I got saddled up with a puppy who thinks he's funny."

His eyes narrowed. "I'm not a  _puppy_."

She narrowed her eyes at him too.

This was going to be one  _long_  night.


	5. Chapter 5

They were at an impasse.

The girls had agreed to stay at Lana's family home and not leave Forks, and the werewolves had agreed to back off and give the girls the night to digest things. Of course, Paul, Embry and Jacob hadn't been quite so enthusiastic about the leaving the already disturbed imprintees on their own, but Sam had ordered them out of the house and they'd been unable to disobey.

Chloe had decided from that moment on that she needed to make an ally of Sam Uley. If she ever had any problems with the puppy, all she needed was for Sam to raise a disapproving eyebrow at Tentacles, and the situation would be dealt with.

At least she'd found an upside to this dilemma.

Kinda.

Maybe.

Would have been better if  _her_  raised eyebrow did the trick, but beggers couldn't be choosers…or in this case…imprintees couldn't be alphas.

…or  _could_ they?

She needed to research!

"They're still  _out_  there!" Lois growled, letting the curtain slide back into place and turning to where Lana and Chloe were still unbathed, dressed in their sleeping apparel, having breakfast. Lois herself was only wearing a stretchy, lacy 2 piece. The top was a bra-like design and the bottom was low-rise  _teeny_  shorts.

And she had no shame in throwing open the curtains again, looking out, and letting anyone looking in see her.

"You mean Paul's still out there?" Lana asked, getting up, wearing her stretch spandex mesh camisole.

"His shift was the first of the night." Lois shook her head, glaring at whoever had sentry duty at the moment. "Then during the middle of the night Embry came and took over so Paul could go sleep."

Apparently, despite their Alpha's orders to not come to the house or even  _touch_  their lawn, the wolves had found a way around that command by stationing themselves across the road, keeping an eye on the girls, obviously not trusting them not to try and disappear into the night.

Not that Chloe really blamed them.

It wasn't as if they'd been exactly  _ecstatic_  at the news of being imprinted on.

She sighed and clasped her pendant, rubbing her thumb over the silky green stone.

But could anyone really blame them?

They'd all had bad breakups.

They were still in their 'we hate men' stage of mourning.

They had  _plans_  on how to get  _out_  of that stage.

Lois was going to seduce the sheriff, Lana was going to get laid, and Chloe was going to…well…Chloe really hadn't had time to formulate a plan as yet, and yet whatever it was it would have been ruined by this-she was  _sure_  of it. What right did those wolves think they have to just  _barge in_  and ruin their plans of mass porn-like behavior?

Oh.

Right.

The right of the soulmate.

Chloe sighed, unable to think of a way to go up against that.

Running her free hand through her hair, Chloe admitted that if this had come while they were all single and emotionally happy they'd have been ecstatic and a bit honored, stuff like this only happened in stories… but this had just been the wrong  _timing_.

"And then Jacob came to relieve Embry some hours ago," Lois continued, obviously having kept as close an eye on the boys as they'd been having on the girls.

Chloe looked up at the sound of Tentacles' name. "Is he still there?"

"They all are," Lana announced, looking out of the window along with Lois.

"Yeah. The others joined him around an hour ago." Lois turned to look at Chloe, folding her arms over her chest. "This is  _ridiculous_! It's like they're the three bad wolves to our three little pigs!"

"The neighbors are going to start talking soon." Lana frowned, getting as annoyed as she planted her hands on her hips.

"When are they going to  _leave_?" Lois wanted to know. "We said we wouldn't go. We keep our word. It's  _insulting_  how they don't believe in us. How is this supposed to woo us?"

Getting enough of this, Chloe stood, not caring that she was only clothed in her two piece floral print baby doll…with matching  short shorts. She stormed to the broken door, pulled it aside, and stormed right out into the cold lawn towards where the three frozen wolves were now watching her.

Jacob's eyes widened in appreciation before they narrowed and he slapped up both Embry and Paul, making them look away. He then turned to Chloe, furious. "What the  _hell_  do you think you're doing?" He snapped, stalking towards her, pulling off his jacket as he went.

"What the hell do  _you three_  think you're doing?" Chloe growled right back at him, standing on the pavement of the sidewalk, hands on her hips, feet bare against the freezing ground, morning helluva freezing. "We're not prisoners! You have  _no right_  to be keeping watch outside as if we're going to  _bolt!_  It's annoying, and you three can't  _honestly_  think that it's endearing in the least bit."

Embry and Paul lowered their heads, hands in front of their faces as Embry spoke. "We're not-not doing it because of that!"

"We broke your door." Paul too had his hand covering his eyes as to not see her so provocatively dressed—or—err—undressed. "Anyone could have gone into your house and hurt you three. We just wanted to make sure that you were safe."

Chloe paused.

That-she hadn't considered that to be one of their reasons.

It…

Damn them.

It was  _cute_.

And  _endearing_.

And so  _totally_  unfair.

Warmth covered her and she blinked, realizing that Jacob had finally reached her and had wrapped his jacket around her, protecting her from both the cold and any wandering eyes. "Uhm, thanks."

He suddenly grinned. "You're welcome."

Chloe then shook her head, wondering what had just happened, before narrowing her eyes at them and hugging the jacket around her closer, amazed at how wonderfully warm it was to her cold skin. "Shouldn't you guys been in  _school_  or something?"

Embry and Jacob went a little nervous.

Paul shook his head. "Nah. I graduated two years ago."

Chloe smiled up at him. "At least  _one_  of us doesn't have a puppy."

Embry and Jacob growled slightly.

Paul looked a little relieved. "How is Lois this morning? I, uh,  _saw_  her, and, uh…"

Was he  _blushing_?

Then again, if he had seen Lois' sleeping apparel he had every reason to blush.

"She's annoyed. With you." Chloe felt evil for enjoying his wince. "She's been keeping an eye on all of you and your little shifts and we all thought you doubted our word when we said we wouldn't leave."

"We were trying to  _protect_  you," Embry insisted.

"We don't  _need_  protecting," Chloe shot back, a little annoyed at how sweet this was seeming all of a sudden.

"You're ours," Jacob responded. "Whether you need protecting or not isn't the issue. We will always want to protect you and keep you safe, to make sure that you're happy and provided for, that you're not sad for a moment."

Chloe looked up at him in shock.

Well…when he put it  _that_  way…

She shook her head again, trying desperately to hold onto her resolve. "We're modern women. We make ourselves happy. And we can choose to  _share_  that happiness with the person we want to-if we feel they deserve it…or we're not PMS-ing."

The three men winced.

She snorted. " _Children_ …the  _three_  of you. You can't even take hearing me talk about our  _periods_  without looking like you want to melt into the ground with embarrassment."

They looked a mixture of horrified and ashamed and annoyed.

Chloe shook her head. "Well, as long as you're here you might as well be  _useful_." She motioned for them to follow her as she turned to go back into the house. "Come on."

The three wolves followed cautiously behind.

Chloe, with her back to them, couldn't help but smirk.

Why was it that despite the fact that she was in the presence of three 'werewolves'  _she_  felt like the predator?

* * *

Jacob Black hated Embry Call.

And he was quite sure Paul hated Embry as well.

Of course, they  _knew_  that it wasn't fair to begrudge their pack-member for the fact that despite a rocky start he'd already begun bonding with his mate-but when Paul's mate had already warned him he was wasting his time with her and that monogamy was  _not_  in her plans-and Jacob's mate had reminded him she wasn't interested in  _children_  and kept calling him names like  _Puppy_  and  _Tentacles_  whenever he tried getting closer to her…well…

Jacob and Paul  _hated_  Embry Call.

After the girls had bathed and changed into  _clothes_  (and the wolves tried to forget the tempting pictures they'd been in their skimpy and provocative sleeping garments) the girls had been given a tour of Forks. It was a small town, and despite the fact that the wolves didn't go there  _that_  often they knew it fairly well, and enjoyed showing the girls around.

It was fun to see Chloe, Lana and Lois reacting to different things, places,  _foods_. They were complete polar opposites and yet so obviously  _close_  to each other, closer than sisters could ever hope to be.

They'd become their own pack.

Everything had been going well until Sheriff Swan had come up to the girls, having remembered them from the night before and glad to see that they were safe and well despite the 'gang war' that'd shaken Forks.

Lois, fingering her blue necklace, had commandeered the Sheriff's complete attention immediately, puffing out her chest slightly to attract more attention to her cleavage, grinning flirtatiously, and working her sexual allure like a  _pro_.

Embry and Jacob had turned worried looks on Paul, and had watched as his body shook like it would right before a shift…and yet once again, while in the presence of Lois Lane, Paul was unable to shift into wolf form.

It only affected Paul, they knew that, and they wondered about it.

What was it about Lois Lane that prevented the ever hot-tempered Paul from shifting to his wolf form?

They knew that it wasn't a mutant, or, err,  _metahuman_  thing.

Embry could shift in Lana's presence and Jacob could in Chloe's, they'd found that out last night during the fight.

But while around Lois it was as if someone had switched off Paul's ability.

It was intriguing…and a bit disturbing, since Embry nor Jacob knew if Lana and Chloe affected them in other ways that they hadn't realized as yet.

What if other important things were 'turned off' while around them?

Why was this happening?

Lois giggled and reached forwards to place her hand on Sheriff Swan's arm.

Paul growled.

Apparently  _Embry_  wasn't the only one he hated anymore.

Jacob was a little worried for the Sheriff. Charlie was a good friend of his father's, he came around the Rez a lot, and he was an all-round nice guy. Jacob had even once had a crush on his daughter Isabella when they'd been kids, and he didn't want to have his pack brother tear the good sheriff apart for something that really wasn't his fault.

It was  _Lois_  who'd decided the one she was interested in was the Sheriff.

Charlie had done nothing to deserve to be torn to pieces.

Chloe laughed and told the already blushing sheriff that she was going to have to get arrested soon.

Jacob growled, quickly changing his mind about Charlie's innocence.

He was  _obviously_  doing  _something!_

Even  _Lana_  was giggling.

Maybe he was an  _incubus_  or something.

"Embry, look!" Lana was suddenly by Embry's side, arm looped around his, pointing to a sickeningly  _feminine_ jewelry store. "Let's go there!"

Embry's face went besotted and he nodded, walking towards the store he would  _always_ swear he'd never go to…huge, stupid-ass smile on his face.

If Jacob hadn't been too busy glaring at Charlie he'd have given his damn lucky friend an envious glare at Lana's obvious acceptance of him so far.

Paul growled louder, unable to take it any more, and went to Lois, grabbing her arm and jerking her away, pulling her after him as he stormed off in no particular direction-just away from Charlie Swan.

Lois snarled and argued with him the whole while, but wasn't really putting all her strength into it since they  _all_ knew she was stronger than a wolf in human form and yet she was still being pulled away by Paul.

Chloe and Charlie watched them in curiosity before they exchanged a couple more words and the sheriff excused himself.

Chloe watched him go before rounding on Jacob. "You  _ever_  think of doing something like that, Puppy, and I'll claw your eyes out!"

Jacob's eyes widened. "I would  _never_ …!"

His guilty expression must have been extremely  _noticeable_ , because she didn't look convinced.

He sighed.

Why couldn't he have a sweet, clumsy, manageable mate?

Chloe's gaze slid from off of him to something on the side and she hurried in that direction.

Jacob followed her, surprised to see her heading in the direction of the antiques store. She obviously liked these sorts of things. She'd been looking at the booth the night before, hadn't she?

"You're leaving?" Chloe asked the man quickly packing up his car.

"You!" The man pointed to her. "From last night!"

"Yeah, that was me." Chloe nodded, looking at the sign on the store that read "Gone-FOREVER!" and then returning back to the man, who was stuffing his suitcase into the trunk of his car. "You can't be leaving!"

"Didn't you see the werewolves and vampires last night? Gang war my  _ass_!" The man snorted. "I have family in California! I have  _money_! I do  _not_  need this!"

"But the store-your things-." Chloe frowned.

"You want them?" He pulled out something from his pocket and gave it to her. "Here. Yours. You can have the apartment above the store and everything. I don't want this anymore and I'm going to get a  _tan_  in Cali! Call me if you need to me sign anything!" And with that he got into his car and sped away.

Jacob blinked from where he was at Chloe' side. "What-what did he give you?"

"The deed to the building." Chloe looked up at him in as much shock as he was looking down at her. "And the  _keys_."

"You can't be serious!" Jacob exclaimed, taking the deed and looking it over. "That sort of thing doesn't happen in real life. They only happen in Lifetime movies!"

Chloe giggled, smiling mischievously at him. "I didn't realize you watched Lifetime movies."

He blushed, looking up at her, surprised at how beautiful she suddenly looked, grinning teasingly at him. "Only whenever my sisters have control of the remote."

"A man who relinquishes the control of the remote…to  _females._ " She winked playfully at him. "I think I'm beginning to like you a little, Tentacles."

He smiled slightly in surprise and a little hope as she walked towards the shop. "Hey! What are you doing?"

She turned to him. "I'm checking out my first home and business. That's what." And with that she unlocked the place and entered.

"Home? Business?" Jacob paused outside, alone, grinning. "Does that mean you're  _staying_?"

Inside, she didn't seem able to hear him, but that didn't matter. Jacob could see her through the windows, eyes wide in awe and fascination as she went through the things in the store, touching them reverently.

His smile went more tender.

Chloe, realizing that he wasn't with her, went to the door and leaned a hip against it, smirking at him. "What? Waiting for an invitation, puppy?"

And for the first time Jacob didn't get insulted when she called him that, he instead chuckled in amusement and went to her, realizing something as she smiled brightly at him.

He didn't need a sweet, clumsy, manageable mate.

He was going to adore this one just fine.


	6. Chapter 6

"You can't really be serious!" Lois exclaimed, looking at Lana in horror. "You're supposed to be on my side!  _Not_ encouraging this stupid idiot by being a stupid idiot yourself with your stupid idiocracies!"

"Idiocracies isn't a word." Chloe didn't even look up from where she was going over the books intently.

"Not the point!" Lois snapped, turning on  _her_. "The point is that you two have gone insane!"

"It's not insanity." Lana glared, standing, hands on her hips. "I  _like_  Embry, and that house was left to me. And with the job Chloe's going to give me-."

"I'm giving you a job?" Chloe's gaze shot up from the books at that.

"-I'll be able to pay the bills," Lana continued on as if Chloe hadn't spoken. "Plus, it's not like I'm going to  _starve_  or anything. I'll come over every day and eat the food Chloe cooks-,"

"Who said anything about me cooking?" Chloe wanted to know, a little desperate.

"-and anyway,  _Embry_  is  _here_." Lana finished it with her beginning point. "I  _like_  him, and he's my  _soulmate_. Why wouldn't I want to stay here?"

"Lana, don't buy into the deceit!" Lois stood, shaking the smaller girl, trying to shake some sense into her. "You're a modern woman! You should be able to see through this macho chauvinistic attempt to tie us to their beds and keep us pregnant and barefoot!"

"Tied to the bed?" Lana blinked, tapping her finger against her cheek. "I wonder if Embry would try bondage. What do you think? Is he a satin, rope, or handcuffs kinda guy?"

Lois' mouth fell open.

Chloe began to choke on the coffee she'd been, unfortunately, sipping at that moment.

"And, of course, I want a lot of babies as well, so being pregnant won't matter to me as long as it's with someone who will love and cherish and be truthful and faithful to me and only me for the rest of our lives," Lana continued on, beaming brightly before sending Lois a guilty look. "So, I'm sorry, but I've kinda gotten over my disappointment and anger of the situation. I mean,  _Lois_ , come on, we're talking about our SOULMATES."

Chloe sighed, not choking anymore. She put on her glasses and continued to read the documents in front of her, knowing that this was going to become a huge debate.

Ever since she'd told Lois and Lana that she was considering staying in Forks Lois had been on her case, talking about the men they had yet to know, biblically, and throwing all sorts of temptations her way. Lois stated that there was no way she was going to stay in Forks, so there was no way she was going to let  _Chloe_  stay in Forks (since they were a unit) and she was trying to instead convince Chloe that they needed to move to Laguna Beach and get a tan.

Chloe insisted Lois needed to stop watching so much television.

And now she apparently had Lana's support, as the girl declared her intention to stay here and openly allow Embry to court and win her.

Chloe didn't know why this news surprised Lois.

It had been obvious during these last two weeks since they'd started getting to know the wolves, that Lana and Embry had become inseparable, and incredibly happy together. They were always grinning and smiling and giggling and being so  _besotted_  with each other that Chloe many times wanted to hit them.

It was irritating.

"How can you settle for being some werewolf's browbeaten wife?!" Lois threw her hands up in the air. "Lana! You could be a super model if you wanted! You could have the whole world fall madly in love with you if you wanted them to!"

"They'd only become psychotic and try to kill me if they did," Lana countered, hands on her hips, eyes narrowed. "Why not just stay with my soulmate and if he goes insane I at least know he won't try to hurt me because hurting me would be worse than hurting himself!"

Lois opened her mouth, closed it, and then pouted. "Good point."

Lana smirked. "Plus, Lois, you haven't really thought of the advantages to this whole situation."

Chloe tried desperately to concentrate on the books, but Lana's mischievous tone was just too intriguing.

"What advantages? None are even  _rich_  or anything." Lois frowned, folding her arms over her chest rebelliously.

"Yes, true, but what they lack in monetary possessions they make up in other ways." Lana grinned. "Think about it Lo. You could boss Paul left right and center and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it! He'd have to  _take_  it! He can't even  _shift_  while around you, and while in human form you're  _stronger_  than him. Who do you think would have the pants in that relationship and everyone would  _know_  it without you having to brag about it? Which would make you having the pants that much  _cooler_."

"I hadn't thought about that." Lois paused, listening. "Go on."

Elbows on the table, Chloe propped her chin on her clasped hands and watched the scene unfold between the two brunettes.

"And think about the sex." Lana giggled, blushing slightly. "You can literally say you're having  _wild animalistic_ sex."

Lois gulped, eyes widening slightly.

"And it'll be different depending on the phases of the moon so you couldn't possibly get bored with him doing the same thing over and over again!" Lana pointed out, finger pointed in the air for emphasis. "Some nights he'll want to make long sweet love to you so slowly you're begging for him to stop or keep going… and on others you won't even make it to the bed! Maybe not even to the house!"

By now Lois was biting her bottom lip, eyes glazing over slightly.

Lana shared a conspirator's grin with Chloe at this good sign.

"And also, he's a wolf, animalistic, passionate," Chloe added. "He won't have any embarrassment if you suddenly want to do some of your more outrageous kinkiness. Like the aforementioned bondage."

"Handcuffs." Lois was slowly losing herself into a fantasy. "He's  _definitely_  a handcuff kinda guy."

"Don't you have some handcuffs for such a time as that?" Lana pointed out.

"See? You two are already matching up," Chloe pointed out.

Lois blinked.

"And if you say you want to play dress up," Lana continued. "You know he won't have any problems being the Big Bad Wolf to your Little Red Riding Hood."

Lois began to fan herself. "The better to eat you with, my dear."

Chloe bit on her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

Lana brought her hand to her mouth to muffle her own little giggle.

Lois, thankfully, was too lost in her fantasy to really pay them much attention and notice their amusement.

"And what about outdoors sex? Didn't you say you always wanted to do it up against a tree?" Lana asked.

Lois nodded, pulling out of her fantasy to turn to Chloe. "I can't let Chloe be the only one with that experience! Or kink!"

Lana's eyes widened, turning to the blonde in surprise. "NO WAY!"

"It's not a  _kink,"_ Chloe groaned, blushing. "It was only like twice."

"EIGHT!" Lois exclaimed, annoyed. "It was  _eight times_! And eight times means it's a  _kink!_ " Beginning to count the times off on her fingers, Lois started to prove her point. "You two did it in the pool of his mansion, on the balcony, in the forest outside of the mansion, on top of the trunk of Lex's Jaguar, behind the bleachers at school when the game was cancelled due to the torrential downpour, out in Miller's Field, against the Kents'  _barn_ , and behind the rocks during that beach trip we took last year."

Lana's mouth fell open. " _Whoa…_ "

Chloe's eyes were wide and on her cousin. "How the  _hell_  do you  _know_  about all of those times? I didn't even remember most of them and I was the one doing it!"

Lois grinned. "I have my sources… Plus, you're really loud."

"You  _pervert_!" Chloe threw her hair scrunchie at Lois in horror. "You stalkerish, voyeuristic  _pervert_!"

"Says the girl with the outdoors sex kink." Lois snorted.

"It's not a  _kink_!" Chloe blushed as she denied this vehemently.

There was a moment's silence.

Lois sighed. "Whatever happened between you two anyway? I mean, I understand me and Lana breaking up with dumb and dumber, but you and Lex had been so  _strong_  for so long. I mean, I was already thinking up of names to give your bald, brilliant children."

Chloe sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "It's…it's complicated."

"Uncomplicated it enough to explain," Lois demanded.

"I loved Lex, and he loved me, but in the end we wanted different things in life and although we didn't want to let go of each other, we realized that if we stayed together one of us was going to have to give up their dreams or their plans and they'd end up hating and/or resenting the other." Chloe looked out the window. "In the end we decided it was more mature to end it while we were still on a good note and able to look back at our times together fondly."

Lois and Lana shared a look.

Lana sighed. "You're so  _mature_  Chloe. I'd never be able to do that  _and_  remain friends with my ex like you."

"Me neither," Lois declared, leaning back against the door.

"Lex and I will always love each other in one way or the other, but we know that we don't belong together, and we want each other to be happy," Chloe admitted, smiling. "I mean, I was heartbroken when it happened, but we've been talking lately and we both know this was the best thing we could have done, and we both want to encourage the other to seek the happiness we want them to have. We're moving on."

"Well…" Lana bit her bottom lip to try and keep herself from grinning. "I'm sure  _Jacob_  wouldn't mind that you have a kink when it comes to outdoor sex."

"He'd probably  _enjoy_  it," Lois added with a smirk.

Chloe went beet red. "It's  _not_  a  _kink_!"

The sound of the bell above the door ringing caused the three girls to turn in time to see the three wolves entering the shop, accompanied by Emily.

Emily hurried to hug the girls and started a conversation immediately with Lois about their (surprisingly enough) shared love of Japanese animation.

Lana and Embry gravitated towards each other, giggling and smiling and blushing like they always did when around each other.

Chloe looked down at the books and wondered if they'd get seriously injured if she threw the heavy volumes at them.

Her gaze went to Lana's bare neck, remembering her saying that she didn't need the charm anymore since she'd already gotten what she'd wanted.

Lana hadn't worn it since that day two days ago.

And she  _really_  didn't need it.

Embry and Lana held hands, sighing and smiling into each other's eyes.

Paul gave a sigh and drifted reluctantly to listen in to Lois and Emily's conversation. He himself  _hated_  Japanese animation, and upon learning this Lois had taken it upon herself to rent every single one she could find in the blockbusters in Port Angeles and force the wolf to watch them with her.

At least it gave him some conversational material.

"What're you doing?" Jacob asked, appearing by her side, looking easily over her shoulder at the books. "Still going over the figures?"

"Hey Tentacles." Chloe smiled at him before nodding, sitting back down, waiting for him to do the same. "According to these records the store seems to get a good profit on its own, and I have ideas already on how to raise the sales, and since this building belongs to the old owner, or, well, to me now that I worked all that out with him and Charlie as witness, well, I don't have to worry about paying rent on the space, and that will help me with the costs of living."

Jacob's gaze rose from the books to her face.

"And then I was thinking, of maybe getting an internet site put up advertising the products and maybe doing some shipping so that people don't have to always come  _here_  to get it. I mean, Forks isn't exactly the biggest touristic place unless you're a werewolf or vampire or something," Chloe continued on. "So good marketing is really a necessity."

Jacob leaned an elbow against the table and propped his jaw against it, watching her.

"Mr. Miller had some really good suppliers that he got his merchandise from, and I have some acquaintances in Metropolis who would help me with getting new suppliers as well, and I'm thinking of doing a little redecoration of the place to give it a less old look."

Jacob smiled slightly.

"I mean, it's an antique store, right? So I think that once the person walks into the store they should feel like they'd been transported through time." Chloe's face lit up and she moved her hands around wildly as she spoke. "I'm thinking a softer color bulb, to give the illusion of it being candlelight, and instead of a usual cash register I'm going to get one of those antique looking ones. You know? I was looking at them on the internet and it just adds this certain  _touch_  to it."

Jacob's smile grew tender.

"What do you think about role-playing?" Chloe turned to him curiously.

Jacob choked on air as he suddenly sprang up straight in the seat, going horribly beet red immediately, eyes as wide as melons. "R-role-p-playing?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about maybe wearing different antique clothes and jewelry to try and advertize, you know? Add to the feeling." Chloe gave him a curious look, wondering what exactly had happened to him seconds ago. "But if you think it's lame or something-."

"No!" Jacob waved his hands frantically in front of him, shaking his head. "I think you'd look amazingly cute in costume!"

He then blushed darker, and looked down at the table.

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip, trying to keep from giggling, as she reached forwards and ruffled his hair. "You're such a cute little puppy."

"I'm not a  _puppy,_ " he grumbled, unable to look her in the eyes.

"How was school?" Chloe asked, reminding both him and herself that she just  _couldn't_  like a guy still in high school. She just  _couldn't_. She was too used to being the younger one in the relationship, used to being with a  _man_  not with a  _boy_.

So while Jacob was incredibly cute, and sweet, and helpful, and kind, and hot and an  _incredible_  kisser with a body that was just  _sinful_ …

She blushed, shaking her head, trying to remember what it was she was trying to think before her mind had wandered.

The bell over the door rang.

Everyone's gaze turned to the door.

Three eyes widened at the male standing in the doorway.

The wolves frowned at the reaction of the girls, while Emily looked on with intrigued confusion.

Chloe stood, in shock. " _Lex_?"

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

" _Lex_?" Chloe asked, unable to believe it as he stood in all of his Armani glory inside the door, smiling at her.

"Hey, Sunshine." Lex smiled tenderly at her. "Missed me?"

" _Lex_!" Chloe cried, throwing herself at him and hugging him tightly. "I can't believe you're here!" She pulled away, looking up into his face. " _What_  are you doing here?" She frowned. "Are you okay? Are you in trouble? Do you need help?" She slapped his chest. "Answer me!"

He chuckled down at her, capturing her hand in chest, "I  _would_  if you'd only stop  _talking_."

She pouted, blushing slightly. "Sorry."

The door jingled. "Pay up, Oliver, I told you she'd go into investigative mode immediately and she'd pile question after question on him."

"This is unfair, you're her best friend." Oliver Queen frowned as he forked over the money to his grinning friend.

A gush of wind brought the appearance of Bart. "Hey 'Licious!"

Chloe, completely blind-sighted by the appearance of the Justice League minus two, could only gape, before grinning and hugging them all. "What are you guys  _doing_  here?"

"We came to see you, mamacita," Bart announced, placing an arm around her shoulders. "Is it cotton or lace today?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow at him.

Lex slapped him up the back of his head.

A growl was heard throughout the room.

Chloe's eyes suddenly widened as she remembered the others in the store…most importantly,  _Jacob_. Her gaze went to him immediately, seeing his dark amber eyes darkening, his fists clenched, his body trembling from the way he tried to control his need to shift.

 _Oh boy_.

Extricating herself from Bart's hold, Chloe took a couple of steps away from the boys, noticing their curious and slightly wary expressions at this move. "I'm really happy to see you all! But before we go to talk-let me introduce you to everyone." She walked towards the wolves. "These are our friends, Paul, Embry, and-."

"I'm Jacob." The wolf stepped forwards, placing a casual arm around Chloe's waist, eyes narrowed at the men.

Chloe closed her eyes and bit back the urge to slap  _him_  up the back of his head.

The League, in their civilian attire, shared looks before looking at Lex in a nervous way.

Lex just looked at Chloe and Jacob, thoughtfully. "Aren't you a little  _young_?"

Jacob growled, arm tensing around Chloe as his Achilles' Heel in this whole situation was thrown in his face again.

Chloe sighed, putting herself in Jacob's shoes, thinking of how she'd felt every single time (during the period where she and Lex had had to keep their relationship a secret because of her age) she'd had to watch women with Lex and not be able do anything about it.

It'd been heartbreaking.

The blonde leaned her forehead against him.

Jacob, shocked by this movement on her part, froze, all animosity leaving his face as he tore his glare from the others and just looked down at Chloe.

She turned to look at him. "Give me this, Puppy?"

Jacob sighed, nodding, giving her a small smile. "Sure." He cleared his throat and left through the back door.

Paul and Embry stayed though, narrowing their eyes at the males who'd once been with  _their_  imprintees.

Lana and Lois weren't so happy either.

Clark and Oliver looked down at their feet or at the antiques, clearly uncomfortable.

Lana took in a deep breath, grabbed Embry's hand, and walked to Clark. "Clark Kent." She spoke, causing him to look up at her in surprise. "I want you to know that I'm going to be the mature one of the two and say that I forgive you for being completely sexist and never telling me the complete truth until I found out on my own, despite me telling you about  _me_. I also want to let you know that I'm happy because I've found a really great guy, who doesn't keep secrets from me, and who loves me beyond any understanding of my part."

She smiled up at Clark during the whole monologue.

Clark opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before finally finding his voice. "Th-that's great, Lana, I'm, I'm really happy for you and I hope you—you and he are h-happy."

"Thank you." Lana smiled brightly, reaching up and her tiptoes and tapping Clark's cheek. "And I sincerely hope that one day you'll be able to find a woman who has the capabilities and desire to love you the way I did…though I doubt it." Her grin brightened. "Have a great visit with Chloe." And with that she pulled Embry out of the store behind her.

Lois snorted.

Determined, she walked towards Oliver,  _slapped_  him, and brushed past him to the doorway, stopping, not turning back. "What are you waiting on, Paul?"

The wolf, clearly surprised, hurried after her, pushing his way past the men.

"I got a craving for ice cream," Lois could be heard telling him as they left the store. "You're taking me to Port Angeles and you're taking me to the best ice cream parlor in the place. And you're  _paying_."

" _More_  junk food?" Paul snorted, disbelieving. "If you keep that up you're gonna get  _fat_."

They could  _hear_  Lois slapping him up the back of his head. "Shut up and drive, you overgrown, mangy, inbred fleabag."

" _Fleabag?_  I don't have  _fleas_!" Paul exclaimed. "Why do I put  _up_  with you, woman!? At least Lana's nice and Chloe's fun! You're just plain  _loud! And_  you're just gonna get  _fat_  anyway!"

Another  _thwack_.

"Goddammit woman! Stop  _hitting_  me!"

"Stop opening your mouth and I won't  _have to_!" She hissed. "And what's with all this praise for Lana and Chloe? You're damned  _lucky_  you have me! You should be worshipping the heavens or whatever for getting me you ungrateful, uncultured, ignorant  _dog!_ "

"That's  _it!_ I'm not taking you to get any goddamned ice cream!"

" _Fine!_  I'll just as  _Sheriff Swan_  if he's feeling up to it!"

A growl. "If you don't leave that man alone you're going to be the  _death_  of him! Can you live with that on your conscience?"

"As  _if_  I'd let you touch a hair on Charlie's head," Lois scoffed.

"'Let'?" Paul fairly screamed at her. " _Sure_ , like this  _maybe_  you can take me on, but when I become a wolf, you have  _no_  chance against me! I'll leave you panting and unable to  _stand for days!_ "

"Wolf?  _Please_ , you and me  _both_  know you have a little  _problem_  in  _that_  department. You can  _never_  get it to work when around me."

Inside of the shop, the League,  _clearly_  misunderstanding the situation, went pale, a couple of them shifting uncomfortably while the others looked kinda sorry for Paul.

"Let's do this! Just you and me!" Paul snarled. "I'll show you I have no problem! I'm just-a little  _nervous_."

Chloe bit her bottom lip at how this conversation was sounding.

"Okay then, we'll go to the meadow up in the mountain. Should be isolated enough," Lois issued the challenge, clearly sneering. "See if that's enough to keep you from being so  _nervous_  and actually prove to me that you're a  _man_  and not a very ugly girl!"

Clark shook his head. "How does Lois get her boyfriends to put up with her with that attitude?"

"She's hot," Bart answered immediately.

"I'll show you!" Paul could be heard as they stormed away from the shop. "When I'm done with you you won't be able to say  _anything_  about my wolfness!"

"Who calls themselves wolves anymore?" Lex wanted to know.

"And when you  _fail_   _ **AGAIN**_  at least it'll only be me and the birds and the bees to see your disgrace!" Lois exclaimed, following after him.

"I see she hasn't gotten over her blunt sex talk in public." Oliver rubbed his throbbing cheek. " _Or_  her desire for outdoor sex."

Chloe couldn't help it.

She doubled over in laughter.

* * *

Sometime later,  _after_  her laughing was over, Chloe invited the boys upstairs and served them something to drink as they sat around her table. She smiled, glad to see them again, all together. It reminded her of how things had been before the breakups.

"So, where are AC and Victor?" Chloe asked, referring to the two missing.

"AC felt this place was too far from the closest body of water," Lex announced, he and Oliver headed up the Justice League, but while Oliver was the Green Arrow, leading the men in the ranks, Lex was the Watchtower, using his meteor-enhanced super-brain to hack into government facilities, and guide the Justice League while in the Clocktower. "And Victor didn't want to leave him alone."

"You know how AC goes crazy when Victor's not around to pull on his leash and reel him in a little." Oliver grinned.

"True." Chloe grinned, thinking about their nudist friend. "So, tell me guys, I love you and all that, but I know that the reason you're here is  _not_  because you missed seeing my face."

The men sighed, sharing a look.

"See, it's like this," Clark began. "We were going up against Lionel's newest bad guy and Bart got caught. He was detained for a while and it wasn't pretty."

Chloe turned to Bart immediately, shocked and horrified. "Are you okay, honey?"

"Hours of torture and experimentation done on me were worth hearing that word from your lips," Bart joked, but Chloe could tell the shadows in his eyes.

"You're such an idiot." Chloe grinned, reaching for his hand and squeezing it, before turning to the others. "So you came here to see if I could keep him here with me until he recuperates."

They nodded.

" _And_  we all wanted to see you." Lex smiled. "Which is why we decided to come as a group." He hesitated. "When you told me that you were planning on staying in a little town we'd never heard of before-,

"Located in the asscrack of  _nowhere,_ " Oliver added.

"-we were all worried about you," Lex finished, reaching forwards and drawing a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear. "I mean, I understand that you want to have a normal life, the three of you, but to leave Gabe and all of us behind like that? We were worried that you were being forced against your will."

"We're just relieved to see that it's only because of a guy." And then Clark winced. "That came out wrong."

Chloe smiled at her best friend. "Jacob is not the reason that I'm staying. He-he's sweet, and he's nice, and he's helpful, and he's an all-round great guy, and…" she sent Lex a little look. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to him, because I am…and he's in love with me. He's completely  _dedicated_  to me…"

"You have that affect on guys," Lex whispered.

Chloe looked up at him in shock and pleasure. "Really?"

"But he's kinda  _young,_ " Bart interjected with a pout. "You told me you didn't dig younger guys."

"I  _don't_." Chloe smirked. "And I repeat, I am  _not_  staying here because of him." Her smile faded somewhat. "After what happened to Dinah-seeing her lose her baby because of the job and how she just couldn't-couldn't live anymore after that-it made me realize that I want a normal life, want to have a family, without the whole saving the world getting in the middle of it."

The men nodded, understanding.

"And I feel that there have just been too many coincidences happening since I came here for them to be coincidences." Chloe motioned to the building for emphasis. "It's like something's telling me this is the place to have all I've ever wanted, and I really want to give it a shot."

"And we want to support and help you in this decision," Lex announced. "I want a partnership with the store."

"Me too," Oliver announced.

Chloe grinned cheekily, shaking her head at them. "What would two billionaires want with a partnership in a tiny antique shop?" She raised an eyebrow, and a hand, stopping them. "Wait, don't tell me. This would become a  _chain_  of antique shops located close to 33.1 facilities, or in towns where there are LuthorCorp or other dangerous criminal facilities, so you can keep an eye on Lionel and yet be completely conspicuous at the same time."

"Why wasn't she our Watchtower again?" Bart sighed. "She's much cuter than Lex."

Lex sighed and shook his head.

"She was busy being a part of the Terrible Threesome to become a full time member," Oliver reminded him.

"We are  _not_  the Terrible Threesome!" Chloe laughed. "And we had to take care of Smallville while you all gallivanted halfway around the world!"

"Who's going to take care of Smallville now?" Lex asked, softly.

"The new generation," Chloe whispered, knowing that while he understood her decision, he hadn't agreed with it, and deep down inside, Lex never would.

Ever since he'd realized that his exposure to the meteors that day as a child had given him super-intelligence he'd used it to help fight the evils in the world alongside Clark, Oliver, and eventually the rest, and he couldn't think of his life without the Justice League or going up against evil.

Chloe could.

She  _wanted_  the quiet home life with a couple of children and a husband, and maybe a dog-or a wolf.

_What am I THINKING?_

Chloe shook her head, getting rid of those thoughts for now.

"Why don't you all stay here today? Spend the night?" She asked, not wanting to see them go yet. "I can show you around the place and then you can leave tomorrow refreshed."

Oliver rubbed his cheek. "I don't think Lois would be too happy about that."

"That's okay, she can stay with Lana at the Potter house." Chloe grinned. "You can stay here with me."

Clark smiled. "I'd love to stay."

"Me too," Oliver decided immediately once he knew Lois wouldn't be around.

She turned to Lex.

He was smiling at her tenderly. "No need to ask about me."

"Great." She stood. "Let me give you all a proper tour of my home and the store downstairs, then we're going to go to the family diner down the road and you're going to have the best burgers you've ever had in your life!"

Bart stood up rapidly at the promise of good food. "Count me in!"

"Why don't you invite this  _Jacob_  along?" Lex surprised everyone by asking. "I want to get to know him."

The men all exchanged looks.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. " _Lex_."

"What?" He asked, completely innocent.

"Don't give me that innocent expression, Lex Luthor!" Chloe pointed her finger at him threateningly. "If you try and intimidate that poor boy-!"

Lex clasped his hands around her finger and lowered it with a smile. "Just-invite him, okay Chloe? I really  _do_ want to get to know him."

Giving him a suspicious glare, Chloe finally pulled her finger out of his hold. "If you do anything when you think my back is turned-." With that she reached for her phone and dialed Jacob's number with trepidation.


	8. Chapter 8

The night had all the potential of being a  _disaster_. On one side of the two joined tables sat the Justice League, and on the  _other_  side sat the wolves minus Paul and Embry. Jacob had brought backup, and Chloe had worried that this might break out into a fight of some sort…

So she was shocked stupid when after the first, initial discomfort, the wolves and the mutants started getting along  _fabulously_. And Leah, well, Chloe was keeping a close eye on the female wolf. She'd acted all  _weird_  from the moment that she'd first seen Bart, and from the way that she'd knocked over her glass… _twice_ …well, Chloe began to wonder if this imprinting thing wasn't  _contagious_  or something.

But she really couldn't give the weird-girly-Leah and the oblivious-Bart much of her attention, since it was mostly divided between Lex and Jacob. The two were sitting right across from each other, on the opposite side of the table from her, something, she was sure, had been intentional.

The males' faces were serious, their gazes never leaving the other's faces unless they turned to Chloe (and she pretended she wasn't spying) before returning their attention to each other. Sometimes one or the other would glare at the other, obviously not appreciating what the other was saying, but unfortunately Chloe couldn't hear the words being spoken between the two males, and she was horrible at reading lips so she stopped trying after the first twenty minutes.

"'Licious, these sandwiches  _are_  the best ever!" Bart announced with a grin, patting his stomach.

She turned to him, smiling. "Go easy Slick, or you'll get fat."

He chuckled. "You know it'll take more than this to get  _me_  fat."

"True." The only people she'd seen eat more than Bart, and still stay slim and trim, were the  _wolves_. The blonde leaned closer towards Bart, placing a worried hand on his, face concerned. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Bart's smile slipped slightly as he tightened his hold on her hand, nodding. "I  _will_  be, 'Licious."

Neither mutant noticed the way that two wolves had narrowed their gazes on them, growling slightly.

Chloe looked up when Lex stood, and grabbed a growling Jacob by the back of his collar, pulling him out of his seat and towards the exit. "We'll be right back."

And with that they were gone.

Chloe bit her bottom lip, worried.

She'd  _known_  this dinner was a bad idea!

* * *

"What the  _hell_  do you think you're  _doing?_ " Jacob growled, slapping away Lex's grip as soon as they were alone. He was angered and humiliated and  _really_  wanted to hurt this guy more than normal.

"What do you think  _you're_  doing?" The bald billionaire who had had  _his_  mate for so many years asked in frustration, running a hand down his face in a calming gesture. "God, you're such a  _kid_!"

"Don't you-!"

"Just,  _stop_  it." Lex raised his hand in a commanding way. "Look, I know what you are, okay? It's just how I work. I know what you and your  _pack_  are, even though no one else with me knows. They don't have the super intelligence I have so there's no way they could have figured it out." He folded his arms over his chest. "Does Chloe know you're a shifter?"

Jacob was shocked at the fact that his clan's secret was so easy for a stranger to discover by just  _observing_ them. "Yes, she does." He finally calmed down and took in a deep breath, following Lex's example and being civil about this. "She also knows that she's my imprintee."

Lex closed his eyes and nodded, before opening them with a sigh. "I'd wondered if that was the case." He peered down at his expensive looking shoes before glancing back up at Jacob. "How old are you exactly? And don't get annoyed. I'm not taunting you. I need to know."

"Sixteen," Jacob answered slowly, running a hand through his hair, not exactly sure what to think of this mutant. "I'll be seventeen in a couple of months."

"Only Chloe would get a puppy to imprint on her," Lex chuckled mirthlessly.

Jacob shook his head. " _Why_  does everyone  _call_  me that?"

"Because you  _are_ , a puppy," the billionaire said without any malice. "Look, Black, you might have imprinted on Chloe, and your pack will know that and see nothing against the union, hell, they'd be backing you up to try and woo her as fast as possible, but think of it from  _Chloe's_  perspective, will you?"

The wolf paused. "What do you mean?"

"Jesus." Lex took in a deep breath. "You're a  _minor_ , Black,  _she_  isn't. You could get Chloe in trouble with the  _law_."

His eyes widened at the thought. 

Lex seemed more relaxed now that he saw the horror on Jacob's face. "You have to give Chloe some time. She-we loved each other a lot, we  _still_  love each other a lot, and even though we know that we just can't be together like that, we're still healing. We-she-she needs a  _friend_  right now, Jacob,  _not_  another distraction."

The wolf leaned against the wall of the back of the building, confused and surprised as he realized that Lex Luthor wasn't challenging him for Chloe Sullivan, but he was trying to  _help_  him... Even though Jacob could see that it was  _killing_  the other male to do so.

"Chloe gives off this aura of invincibility, but she's actually quite fragile." Lex leaned against the opposite wall. "She needs someone by her side now who can be that solid wall she won't ever admit to needing to rest on. She needs a best friend who will be there for her, listen to her every problem, want the same things she wants, and just  _share_  her life with."

"I want to be that—do that," Jacob assured softly. "I want to do that more than anything, and I realize that you do too…but she's the other half of my soul."

"Soulmate." Lex nodded, gaze downwards, just like Jacob, both uncomfortable with shedding their defenses like this with one another.

"I know that I don't know her even a fifth of how much you do, and believe me that it irks me to admit to it, but I  _do_  want to know her as good as you and  _more_." Jacob kicked at a beer bottle on the ground as it began to drizzle slightly overhead. "And yes, this all began because I imprinted on her and my wolf goes insane around her-but I've gotten to know Chloe for  _Chloe_  these last couple of weeks, and  _I_ ' _m_  fascinated with her-not just my  _wolf_."

Lex motioned for him to continue.

"I mean, she's smart and snarky, and she's wickedly funny when she wants to be. She has all these  _ideas_  and I realize that if I ever want to convince her to give me a chance I'm going to have to better myself, and I don't mind that at all." He gave a little chuckle, leaning his head against the wall and looking up at the sky, letting the drops of rain fall on his face without complaint. "I know that my age bothers her, but I thought it had to do more with her thinking I was some immature, inexperienced, unworthy  _kid_. I-I hadn't thought of it from the legal point of view at all…and now that you're pointing it out I feel really  _stupid_  for not having thought of it before."

Lex made a little snorting noise. "Yeah, well, you're a kid, it's not surprising that that thought wouldn't have entered your mind."

Jacob ignored that.

"Another piece of advice?" Lex spoke up. "Stop getting all  _growly_  around her with other guys. Chloe doesn't enjoy jealousy, and her and Bart might flirt a bit, but they'd never do anything together, they're like brother and sister. So don't give her trouble because he's staying with her." He paused for a second. "Bart-he's hurt, and Chloe is the only one we knew who can get passed his whole  _strong_  act and help him get better, both physically, mentally, and spiritually."

"Didn't you ever get jealous by the way they touch each other so freely?" Jacob asked, curiously.

Luthor looked like a possessive guy.

"Oh, I  _still_  get jealous." Lex snorted. "So I can tell you from  _experience_  that she doesn't enjoy jealousy in a relationship.  _And_  she's got a mean right hook which she  _will_  use if you piss her off."

Jacob snickered good-naturedly.

"Also, get used to it, Black. Chloe has tons of men in her life who adore her one way or the other, we're only a few. And we're not going to stop seeing her or being the way we always are with her because it makes you insecure," Lex warned him. "So if you  _really_  want a place in Chloe's life, a  _permanent_  one, you're going to have to start getting used to sharing her on some level with us."

Jacob did  _not_  like the thought of that, but he could see the reasoning behind that piece of advice. "So you all are mutants, huh?"

Lex nodded. "And there's more where we came from, so if you ever make her unhappy, you'll have a mutant uprising that you'll never recover from. We have friends that can do all  _sorts_  of things with only their  _minds_."

Jacob gulped.

His mate had some  _pretty_  dangerous sounding friends.

He then grinned. "If I make her unhappy, I won't even defend myself from the uprising."

"Good." Lex suddenly grinned back. "I call dibs on the first shot at you."

The wolf and the mutant smiled at each other, a truce and understanding of some sorts having arisen between them.

They turned to return back into the diner when Jacob stopped and gave him a sideways glance. "How do you do it?"

"Do what exactly?" Lex asked, returning the look.

"How can you tell me this? Give me advice?  _Help_  me?" Jacob wanted to know, finally pulling on his hoodie to try and protect his head from the drizzle.

"I'm not helping  _you_." Lex snorted. "I'm helping  _Chloe_. God knows, if she's stuck with  _you_  for the rest of her life she needs  _someone_  to council you before she puts you down  _herself_." He paused. "Though, that might be interesting if she  _did_." And with a devilishly amused smirk he entered the building.

Jacob shook his head at the billionaire and snorted as he followed.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

Apparently Lana didn't exactly mind running the risk of getting trouble with the law by being with someone under the age of eighteen. Her and Embry were inseparable, annoyingly so, and when he wasn't in school he was over the Potter home or she was at the Rez with him. It had gotten to the point where Lois was considering moving into Chloe's house with her and Bart, who was getting used to life in Forks and to Leah Clearwater…who was  _another_  female who'd informed Chloe that she'd be working for her.

Apparently Leah really  _had_  imprinted on Bart, and she didn't trust him living with Chloe all alone in the house… so she made sure to spend as much time with them as possible, giving Chloe the most suspicious glares the blonde had ever received.

Of course, it didn't help that Bart hadn't really taken the native girl serious and was too busy flirting with Chloe to notice the jealousy this was causing her to suffer. Also, he'd started going out with some girl named Jessica Stanley… and so it was understandable that Leah Clearwater looked at the end of her rope.

Chloe was kinda glad for the fact that the wolf now had someone  _else_  to glare at.

"Nah, that's too depressing." Jacob made a face as he looked at the pictures of the new items Chloe was considering acquiring for the shop. It was a slow day, with Lana and Embry off to Port Angeles to take care of some shopping Chloe had asked her to do, and with Bart and Leah both out. No one knew where Lois was, but they assumed she was off bugging Paul at his workplace.

Chloe and Jacob sat on the old antique table Chloe refused to put for sale, going over the new products, Chloe pointing out which ones interested her.

"It's not  _depressing_." Chloe frowned, pulling the picture of the antique in question closer, looking at it. "I think it has a bittersweet feeling of lovers lost."

"Yeah.  _Depressing_." Jacob took the picture of the painting in question and threw it behind him, ignoring the gasp of horror that earned him. "You need stuff like  _this_. It rocks."

Not sure  _why_  she let the young man hang around her shop whenever he wasn't in school, Chloe glared at him before jerking the picture out of his hand, looking at the statue in question.

It…

It actually was kinda cool.

She paused, examining it. "It has a very nostalgic feeling to it, doesn't it? Like a dream?"

It was a statue of a young woman laying in a meadow, smiling at a flower in her hand.

"It must have taken the guy who did this  _forever_  to finish. I mean, it's made out of stone and very detailed." Jacob pointed out, reaching out and grabbing the edge of Chloe's seat, dragging right next to his so that they look at the picture at the same time.

Chloe watched him as he moved her around with such ease, as if she weighed no more than a feather.

It was a little frustrating at times, but  _god_  it was useful when she had to clean and needed him to lift up certain items so she could sweep underneath!

"I've been thinking about the website, and I think you need to make it seem less like a business and more like a  _calling,_ " Jacob announced, resting his arm in the back of her chair in a lazy, casual gesture, gaze and attention on the pictures in front of them. "I know you had Lex's people do it up for you, and I know it's gorgeous and everyone loves it, but while it's professional it just isn't  _you_."

"How is it not  _me_?" Chloe asked, gaze and attention solely on the man now.

He seemed completely oblivious to her gaze, reaching for a picture of an antique necklace. "Well, its kind  _cold_ , and feelingless, you know? It portrays a completely different feeling than the store itself." A contented smile lit his face as he rose his gaze to look around the store in question. "When I walk up into the store so many emotions and feelings rush at me. There's happiness as you hum somewhere among the shelves, there's a  _homey_  feeling with all the little personal touches you've added since you took over, and it's always warm unlike the cold outside, making one feel like they've found a shelter from the harshness of the outside world…a place to disappear to for a while to rest and recharge to face what's waiting for us outside that door."

Chloe tilted her head slightly as she watched him, as she heard his beautiful words.

Jacob Black was a poet at heart.

Who would have thought it?

"Completely changing the subject…how's Bart doing?" Jacob asked, turning to look at her, eyes concerned.

Chloe sighed, looking away. "He still wakes up in the middle of the night screaming. It-they did  _horrible_  things to him while he was captured, and even though being away from the team and just having a normal life has been helping him, the nightmares just won't go away. He keeps relieving the torture and experimentation he went through."

Jacob shook his head. "I can understand how vampires can be cruel…but I just can't understand how  _humans_ can hurt other humans like this without a conscience."

"Well, easy." Chloe looked down at the pictures. "To them we're not humans. We're abnormal…we're  _monsters_."

"You're not a monster!" Jacob snapped, protective.

She turned a smile on him. "I know that. But they don't. They didn't see Bart as a kid they were torturing, they saw him as a specimen to be examined. Just like they would do to me, Lana or Lois or anyone else if they could get their hands on us."

"Which was why you were so afraid when Emily discovered you were a mutant," Jacob remembered. "You would have fled into the night if I hadn't tracked you to the Potter home."

"Good nose, by the way," Chloe congratulated, knocking her shoulder into his playfully.

"I do my best." He grinned.

They smiled at each other, enjoying the other's company.

Jacob's gaze fell to her lips, and he bit his slightly, expression quickly going from amused to longing.

His face was just so expressive it fascinated Chloe.

Jacob might have had his lycanthropy thrust unwillingly onto his shoulders, as well as his duty as guardian of the people and killer of vampires…but he was still so  _innocent_. Chloe admired the way that he hadn't allowed what he did to dull and change him, like she had. He hadn't let it take away that innocence her duty had stripped from her, hadn't allowed it to make him cynical and sarcastic.

Sometimes she resented him for it because it made her feel that she'd done something wrong, that she hadn't been as strong as she could have been…

But most of the time Chloe just enjoyed being with him, hearing his words, trying to understand the way his mind work.

His hand came down on his, warm, protective,  _right_.

Chloe gulped, eyes widening as she looked away, knowing she was blushing and yet unable to do anything about it. "So, what do you want for your birthday?"

Jacob continued looking at her longingly, voice distracted. "Nothing."

"Come on, there's  _got_  to be something a soon to be seventeen year old wants." Chloe stood, a little nervous, gaze returning to their clasped hands when Jacob tightened his hold on it, refusing to let go when she'd tried pulling hers from his.

He-ever since that conversation with Lex weeks back Jacob had been on his best behavior, controlling himself, and while Chloe had appreciated it, it'd made her notice everything Jacob did more. It was as if her body had been on alert, just  _expecting_  him to make a move, and when he hadn't done anything it'd made her become hyperaware of the wolf and everything he did and said.

And now…now…

She gulped.

Jacob stood.

Her green orbs rose rapidly from their joined hands to look up into his face. "J-Jacob?"

He walked towards her. "I'll be seventeen in three days."

"I-I know. We were just talking about it, remember?" She was nervous.

So  _aware_.

Her heart sped rapidly in her chest as he stood before her, hand still clasping hers, his other raising to slowly place a strand of golden hair out of her face and behind her ear, his calloused fingers brushing the back of her ear and trailing down towards her jaw, causing the female to shiver as electricity ran throughout her body at the touch.

She gulped.

He towered over her, looking so much like a man that she could forget, if she let herself, the fact that he was still only a teenager.

" _Jacob_?" Chloe whispered, voice trembling, as her hands somehow found themselves resting against his chest…not pulling him close, and yet not pushing him away either…just resting there, feeling the warmth of his body through the material.

Jacob leaned towards her, letting go of her hand and resting that hand, palm down, against the wall a little behind her.

With his other hand he trailed a calloused finger caressingly along her jaw line.

Chloe's heartbeat increased drastically, and she  _knew_  he could sense it. She  _knew_  he could scent the nervous excitement rising from her body.

That was why he'd let go of her hand and instead rested his hand against the wall, she was shocked. He was giving her the opportunity to run, to duck under his arm and head for cover, if she really didn't want him to touch her.

And yet, with his eyes filled with such desperate longing, and with a touch so tender and yet claiming…his fingers sliding down her neck to cup her neck, his thumb caressing her racing pulse…

Chloe's mouth was dry, but she couldn't even  _think_.

She didn't move.

She couldn't have even if she'd wanted to.

And she  _didn't_.

"I'll be seventeen… in three days." His voice was a whisper as he lowered his head slowly, gaze hungry on her lips. And yet he found the strength to just rest their foreheads together, their breaths both heavy as all of a sudden the atmosphere in the room shifted, changed, getting hotter, heavier…

"I…  _know_ …" Chloe whispered, eyes falling shut, her hands finally clenching at his shirt, heart and pulse desperately beating like drums in her body at his closeness.

Jacob raised his face, lips pressing reverently against her forehead, his breath hot against her skin, his lips skimming ghostly down the side of her skin, barely touching her, and yet still lighting a fiery trail in their wake.

Chloe's breath caught in her throat, breaths pants, hands clutching tightly at his shirt, not even noticing how her body arched into his instinctively.

Or how she'd raised her face towards his.

Jacob watched her intently the whole while, his expression that of longing and agony as his lips hovered over hers, not touching, only a breath away.

Chloe's hazy green orbs rose to meet his, seeing the question there, his waiting for permission.

She closed her eyes.

His breathing went ragged and she could feel his lips begin to brush against hers in an almost kiss…

The bells above the front door jangled loudly. "EVERYONE!" Lois voice echoed. "CONGRATULATE ME!"

Chloe gasped, pushing away from Jacob and ducking under his arm, escaping and putting some distance between them, eyes wide, hand over her rapidly beating heart, face red in embarrassment and…and…

Jacob groaned in agony, ducking his head and slamming his fist sideways into the wall.

So  _close_ …!

"Are you guys in the back room again?" Lois appeared, grin bright on her face. "You'll never believe it! Congratulate me! Congratulate me! Come on!"

Jacob grumbled something under his breath, head still bent, body tense, that Chloe  _doubted_  was congratulations.

"Thanks Pole Boy!" Lois grinned, oblivious, turning to Chloe. "What about you?"

"What am I congratulating you for?" Chloe was relieved that Lois was for once oblivious to sexual tension… something she had an uncanny way of noticing in other people.

"I got a job!" Lois exclaimed.

Chloe blinked, shocked. "In  _Forks_?"

Lois pouted. "Of  _course_  in Forks. Where else?"

Chloe ran her hand through her hair. "I thought you hated it? That you were disowning Lana and I because we were staying here? That you thought we were idiots?"

"You guys  _are_ , but I'd be evil to leave you two here while I go and be awesome somewhere else," Lois announced brightly, folding her hands over her chest. "So I figured, I'd have to start looking for a job since Lana's working for you and I like this store, but I don't do antiques, you know?"

Chloe nodded.

" _So_ , I saw an add in today's paper and I just  _knew_  it was perfect for me! I applied and guess what? I'm the only person who's applied for the position since it's been out, and I was given the job! So starting  _tomorrow_  I'm bringing in the meat baby!" Lois pumped her arm in the air, apparently very psyched about this.

Chloe laughed, happy to see her cousin in such a great mood.

The blonde went and hugged her. "Congratulations Big Cuz. I'm so very proud of you."

"Thanks." Lois hugged her back tightly, smiling happily. "Means a lot to me. It  _will_  be my first job  _ever_."

"So…" Chloe pulled away. "Where is it? What job did you get?"

Lois beamed. "You're looking at Chief Swan's new Administrative Assistant!"

Suddenly Jacob barked out an unpleasant laugh, finally straightening up and turning to face them. "Have you told  _Paul_  that?"

Lois beamed. "Not yet."

Jacob began to laugh, more pleasantly, shaking his head and hugging himself. "His reaction to this is just another reason you wanted that job, wasn't it?"

"He'll explode, try to shift, then he won't be able to cuz we all know I make him impotent, so he'll get frustrated and storm away in a huff," Lois anticipated with a quite evil smile.

Jacob laughed more, running a hand through his long hair. "When are you going to stop doing stuff like this to him?"

"When he stops making it so  _fun_." Lois snorted, as if this should be obvious. She turned to Chloe.

The front door flew open, the bells shrieking.

They didn't have time to leave the backroom and see who was making such a racket because in seconds Paul appeared, eyes narrowed and on Jacob. "We have to go.  _Now_."

Lois frowned at him for totally ignoring her.

"What's wrong?" Jacob asked, eyes narrowed as well.

"Five hikers were found. Eaten," Paul responded bluntly. "We have bloodsuckers in the area again. And from the massacre we're dealing with a larger group than usual."

" _Great,_ " Jacob snarled, going towards Paul before turning to Chloe. "Stay here tonight, don't go outside. And call Emily if anything happens. She'll find a way to get into contact with us."

Chloe smirked at him. "I  _can_  take care of myself, you know."

Lois butted into the conversation. "Plus, she has  _me_  to take care of her too. So don't sweat it Pole Boy. If any vamps come here I'll…"

Paul turned to Chloe. "Knock her out with whatever's closest at hand at that time and take her to safety, okay?"

Chloe nodded. "Will do."

"Thanks." The older wolf sounded grateful.

"HEY!" Lois exclaimed, completely insulted. "Don't be making plans to double cross me right in front of my face!"

Paul smirked at her. "Just stay in tonight and be safe, Lois. Don't be such a pain in the  _ass_ , please?"

"Where's the fun in that?" She wanted to know, eyes narrowed.

Paul smirked deeper before motioning for Jacob to follow him as he moved to go back out.

Jacob turned to Chloe. "Call Bart and get him to tell Leah what's going on and get him back here. He might be fast, but that's all he's got going for him. Vampires are fast  _and_  deadly. And call Lana and Embry."

Chloe nodded, already reaching for her phone before pausing as she watched him turn to follow after Paul. "Jacob!"

He turned back to her.

"Be careful."

A beautiful smile lit his face and he nodded before turning and leaving.

Chloe watched him go, holding her phone to her heart, before sighing and beginning to call the people Jacob had asked her to.

Lois grumbled and hurried to the front door, opening it wide and screaming down the street to Paul, who'd already been running away. "I GOT A JOB WITH CHARLIE SWAN TODAY SO I'M GOING TO BE SPENDING MORE TIME WITH HIM THAN WITH YOU FROM NOW ON!"

" _ **WHAT**_?!" Paul's pissed/horrified voice could be heard screaming back.

"SURVIVE TONIGHT AND WE MIGHT TALK ABOUT IT LATER!" Lois closed the door and returned by the time Chloe had finished talking to Bart and Leah, who'd been out getting food for everyone, and was dialing Lana.

Lois sat down on the seat, sighing. "That pissed him off. And a pissed wolf is dangerous. If he's pissed off enough, he'll make sure he doesn't get his ass killed tonight-if only to scream at me later."

Chloe quickly gave Lana the message, before hanging up and sitting down next to Lois. "You're  _worried_  about him."

"No I'm not." Lois pouted, looking at the pictures Chloe and Jacob had been going over, before sending a worried look towards the door and sighing.

Chloe smiled.

Apparently Paul didn't need to worry about Chief Swan as much as he believed he did.

* * *

A scream brought Chloe awake.

Turning to look at the clock, she noticed it was three in the morning, like clockwork. The blonde hurriedly got up from where she'd fallen asleep on the sofa while waiting for Emily's promised call whenever she heard of anything.

It'd been hard to get Bart to stay with them, him wanting to help the wolves, but Bart was still injured from his time captured, he wasn't ready, especially not mentally, for this-so Chloe had used the emotional blackmail card, telling him he needed to stay here in case any vampire came to attack.

Everyone knew it probably wouldn't happen, and yet Lois and Lana had both stayed the night at her home, and Bart felt responsible for the women, staying with them, though he promptly went to sleep when Chloe gave him the sleeping pills he needed to get a night's sleep.

"Bart?" Chloe called as she entered his room, sitting by the bed and shaking him awake, stopping his screams.

Bart flew up in bed, eyes wide in fear, sweating, shivering.

Heart breaking, Chloe pulled the younger man in her arms and held him close as he trembled, still half stuck in his nightmares and yet knowing that here he was safe. "Everything's okay, Bart. It was a dream. Only a dream. You're in Forks, you're safe. They don't have you anymore. They can't hurt you anymore. You're safe."

"I  _hate_  them, Chloe," Bart whimpered, arms around her trembling. "I  _hate_  them!"

"Me too," she whispered.

Soon his shaking stopped, and like every night, the young man laid back in bed and fell asleep, holding her hand.

Reaching over and kissing his forehead, Chloe sighed as she stood, going to the window to close the curtain, when she froze, seeing someone leaning against the tree, looking up observantly at the home.

Narrowing her eyes, Chloe stormed out of the room and through the living room (where Lana and Lois had fallen asleep waiting for news as well) and down the stairs.

Pulling her cardigan closer around her, Chloe turned on the lights of the shop, the light illuminating outside…the tree standing alone.

Going to the door, Chloe looked left and right through the glass.

No one was there.

A scream echoed outside.

Chloe hesitated, remembering Jacob telling her not to go outside…

Another scream filled the night.

_Oh, screw this!_

Unlocking the door, Chloe rushed out into the darkness towards the sound, heading into the darkness, before stopping when a red-eyed vampire appeared in front of her, smirking.

Another moved out from the shadows behind her.

She clenched her fists.

It had been a trap.

"Kill her," a voice rumbled from the darkness.

Chloe sighed.

Oh  _boy_.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

She could see the vampire in front and behind of her, and there was at least  _one_  other in the darkness, but Chloe couldn't be too sure if they were the only three with her. There could be a motherfucking  _army_  hidden in the darkness around her and she wouldn't know.

Cursing, knowing she  _so_  was out of her league, Chloe narrowed her eyes, determined not to be taken out without a fight. Granted, the fact that she could only  _heal_  left her with a  _huge_  disadvantage, and she knew that even if Lois and Lana and Bart woke up they wouldn't be able to figure out what was happening and find her in time…

The vampire behind her charged loudly, his battle call loud enough to tell her where exactly he was and twirl out of the way, causing him to ram into the vampire who'd been in front of her, both colliding violently into the wall.

She turned, trying to leave, when another vampire appeared. It was a female, with long blood red curls and a smirk as she backhanded Chloe, throwing her backwards into a dumpster and blocking the way back to the store.

Chloe groaned as she got to her feet, wiping at the trail of blood that dribbled down the side of her mouth.

The vampires all turned to her at the scent, eyes flashing a deeper red, going into bloodlust immediately.

" _Parasites,_ " she hissed despite the agony in her body from the jolt of having been thrown so horribly hard against the large dumpster. "One little scent of blood and you're all  _pathetic mosquitoes_."

They hissed at her, obviously not appreciating the truth in those words.

One rushed towards her, grabbing her easily and throwing her to the ground before straddling her pained yet struggling body.

"LET GO OF ME!" Her heart was racing.

The vampire with the dreadlocks sneered into her face as he taunted her with his power over her, flaunting her inability to get away from him or whatever he did to her.

"STOP!" Her breathing was rapid and ragged as she fought in vain against him and his superior strength.

It was quite ridiculous that despite this whole situation, what was bothering Chloe the most was the fact that the charm Lois had bought her was beginning to burn against the hollow of her neck.

"GET OFF OF ME!" She hated him, hated them all.

The vampires around her began to laugh in amusement, the redheaded leaning against the wall, sending a look to the person hidden in the darkness, the one who'd ordered Chloe's death for his apparent amusement.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!" She hated herself for the tears that were beginning to prick her eyes as she realized just how useless fighting against him was.

The dark and yet pale-skinned vampire above her grabbed onto her shirt and tore the front off, exposing her bra to the jeering of those around her.

"NO!"

The burn in her throat was becoming unbearable.

The vampire reached for her skirt and pushed it up her hips to the loud cheering of those watching.

"NOOOO!" And that was when something in Chloe just  _snapped_.

The blonde shifted slightly and brought up her knee violently between his thighs.

The vampire above her screamed in pain.

Taking the advantage of the situation, Chloe growled as she rolled them over so that she was straddling the vampire, her hands at his neck, knowing that she wouldn't be able to choke him, and yet screaming at him in a wordless sound as she continued to squeeze, horrified and angry and hurt and charm  _burning_. "YOU DON'T GET TO TOUCH ME! YOU WON'T TOUCH ME! YOU CAN'T TOUCH ME! NO!  _ **NO!**_ "

A vampire headed towards her to pull her off of his fallen comrade, when a blur of red collided into him at lightning speed, sending the vampire flying into the wall, broken brick and dirt flying everywhere.

There, standing with a dark look she just couldn't recognize, was Bart Allen.

Out of the wall of the building Lana Lang materialized, swinging a bat Chloe had bought to help protect the store against thieves with, at the head of the vampire closest to her using her ability to make the bat a stronger, unbreakable material.

A feline-like snarl could be heard as Lois roundhouse-kicked a vampire out of the darkness and into the dumpster Chloe had been hurtled into moments before.

War erupted around her as mutants faced vampires, but Chloe didn't really notice, her arms shaking with the force of her grip on the vampire's throat.

Her eyes narrowed as tears fell down angrily.

Her hands trembled as her fingers dug in harder, fingernails drawing  _blood_.

Chloe realized, somewhere deep down inside, that the vampire should be moving more, struggling, laughing at her feeble attempts, but he was board-stiff, the only thing moving his blood-red eyes-which were wide in horror.

It was as if-as if he was unable to  _move_.

"You can't touch me." She hissed to him, fingers digging in deeper, feeling her eyes itching, her charm glowing, and yet she refused to let go, to look away from that face-the face that had belonged to-who would have-who-. "YOU DON'T GET TO TOUCH ME!"

The vampire's body began to move now, but he wasn't doing the moving. It was spasming, jerking violently, blood beginning to pour out of his every orifice, eyes, ears, mouth, nose…and yet others as well.

The vampire let out desperate, choked/garbled sounds.

Some green poison began to spew out along with the blood, draining out of the vampire, forming a lake of blood and poison around him, and around Chloe, who continue to straddle him, fingers dug deep in his throat, long after all unlife had drained out of his body and he was a cold corpse on the ground.

" _Amazing_."

She couldn't even look up at that voice, just staring unseeingly at the dead creature under her.

There were grunts and cries from those fighting around her.

She just sat there, looking at the face, shivering in the ragged remains of her shirt, staring down the vampire who-who-who hadn't had the decency to just try and  _kill_  her.

No.

He'd tried to-he would have killed her afterwards with that horrible  _shame_  as the last feeling she'd ever experience.

And she-she-she couldn't have-she couldn't…

Her whole body began to shake as she went into shock.

She didn't even notice the person circling her before he knelt down next to her, hesitating as one would while around a wounded animal, before reaching to her and pulling some of her hair out of her face.

"Just as we were told," the young male announced. "Neither human nor vampire nor wolf, and yet you hold the power to drain the  _unlife_  out of one of ours…What  _are_  you?"

* * *

Fighting in the woods, Jacob snarled at the twenty plus vampires that had seemed to be  _waiting_  on them to arrive. From the first moment they'd stepped into the woods something hadn't seemed right, and as they fought the large russet wolf had tried to tell Sam that through their mind link, but Sam nor the others were listening, too involved in the vicious fight.

Tearing apart one vampire in time to counter attack another as the undead charged him, Jacob snarled, barring his teeth.

Something wasn't  _right_.

Vampires were smarter than this.

They knew of the wolves of this area.

They  _knew_  what would happen if they were as inconspicuous as they'd been with their last killings.

They  _knew_  the wolves, bound by honor to protect human life, would come out to the woods to exterminate them.

And vampires  _knew_  that the only thing out there that could kill a vampire was a werewolf shifter.

Also…something was bugging him, making him grow more and more anxious and desperate…more and more violent.

Something just wasn't right.

 _Jacob_ …

He tore the vampire in half and froze, looking around at the sound of his name.

_Jacob!_

Was that… _Chloe_?

He looked around, barely noticing Paul and Embry stopping as well as Leah, all looking around them as well.

_JACOB!_

Jacob's eyes widened.

Without even thinking of the rest of his pack, he turned around and started racing back towards the town.

He'd been right all along.

Something was  _wrong_.

* * *

"Get  _away_  from her!" Lois grabbed the top of one of the garbage cans and flung it at the vampire currently kneeling down next to her apparently catatonic cousin. The lid bounced off of his head, causing him to hiss in pain and turn his furious red eyes on her.

But Lois didn't have time to worry about his anger, as more vampires kept arriving. It was like there was an unending wave of them, and they were only coming after  _them_.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Bart's hiss caused Lois to look where he was in time to see the young looking vampire pick up an apparently unconscious Chloe in his arms before nodding, a group of vampires around him, escorting him as he began to walk away.

"CHLOE!" Lana screamed.

And yet the three mutants were barely able to keep themselves alive.

Lana screamed as she was dragged down by two vampires, another grabbing her arm and jerking it up, readying to bite a chunk of flesh off of it, when suddenly there was a growl and the vampire turned in time for a huge gray wolf with dark spots on his back to pounce on him, tearing his head off with one vicious bite.

Embry.

Lois looked up at this, seeing a smaller, gray wolf entered the fight, recognizing Leah easily.

Twirling and slamming her elbow into the face of the vampire closest to her, Lois became distracted, worried.

_Please, don't let the idiot have come!_

Paul-he wouldn't have come.

He-he  _knew_  he couldn't shift around her…he would be just like any other human…he would be powerless. As a human even  _she_  was stronger than Paul…and while she usually loved that vulnerability of his, and using it to goad him into fits of indignant anger…she didn't want him to be in a situation like that now.

Distracted, Lois didn't notice the vampire behind her until it'd grabbed her by the hair and thrown her to the ground.

"Don't  _touch_  her!" Paul, naked and human, had grabbed Lana's discarded bat and smashed it in the back of the vampire's head.

Lois' eyes widened. " _Paul."_

More pissed than hurt, the vampire turned to Paul, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him up, sneering.

"PAUL!"

She could see the way his skin rippled with his desire to shift, and for the first time ever Lois hated the fact that she kept him from shifting.

Despite the fact that he was terribly overpowered by the vampire, Paul struggled and fought against that hand tightening around his neck, cutting off his respiration.

Another vampire grabbed Lois as she tried to get up to help him, the vampire holding her down, laughing as she struggled to get loose so she could help. " _PAUL!_ "

His gaze found hers.

She froze.

He knew that in his human form it was impossible for him to defeat a vampire…so he was making sure that the last thing he saw before he went was…her…

" _Paul…"_

She…she didn't want this!

She didn't want him to get hurt!

Not because of her!

She didn't need him to be weaker than her to trust him!

She  _knew_  Paul now!

She  _knew_  that even if he were stronger than her he'd never hurt her! He'd use that strength to protect her-he-.

She didn't  _want_  this!

Her charm began to shake.

The brunette began to cry in frustration as the vampire kept her down, and another vampire came behind Paul, readying to bite him and tear out his throat.

_NO!_

She didn't want to protect herself from him anymore…she…she wanted them to protect  _each other_ … "SHIFT!" She ordered him, voice desperate. "PAUL! SHIFT DAMMIT!  _ **SHIFT!**_ "

She screamed as the charm around her neck  _exploded_  on the last word.

And suddenly, suddenly Paul's skin was rippling and a snarl escaped his throat as he shifted in a violent explosion, flinging both vampires back.

There, instead of the handsome Native American, stood a tall silver wolf.

Lois' eyes widened, seeing Paul for the first time in wolf form.

He was… _beautiful_.

And  _deadly_.

In seconds the large silver wolf had dispatched the two vampires that'd had him at death's door, before attacking the one that'd kept Lois pinned to the ground.

It then nudged her softly, questioningly, large brown eyes on her.

Lois stood, amazed by those eyes, not even noticing the fighting going on around them, reaching up with her hand to touch the fur between his eyes in slight fascination.

"You're…kinda beautiful."

The wolf snorted, knocking against her hand in amusement.

"WILL YOU TWO STOP BONDING AND REMEMBER WE'RE FIGHTING?!" Lana screamed, breaking them apart.

Lois and Paul smirked to each other before breaking apart and returning to the fight.

* * *

Jacob tried fighting, tried getting to Chloe.

He'd followed her scent, even though it was faint and something was wrong with it. It'd led him away from where the others were heading, and he'd encountered a large group of vampires (acting like some sort of guard) surrounding a young looking male vampire…and in that vampire's arms was a lifeless looking Chloe.

Jacob had snapped, attacking, and yet there were too many of them.

The one with Chloe watched as Jacob fought with the multiple vampires, a jaguar stopping next to him and another vampire exited, opening the door for him. He slid Chloe in, and smirked at Jacob, giving him a mock salute.

"The Volturi thank you for taking care of her for us." He smirked, before sliding in, the purple jaguar speeding away rapidly out of sight.

Desperation filled Jacob as he wanted to go after them, but seven vampires surrounded him…all out for his blood.

_Jacob…_

He grew more desperate, finding his humanity slipping in his wolf form for the first time since the fever had descended on him and he'd turned into a shifter.

_Jacob!_

The wolf was taking over, Jacob going numb, the animal in complete control, lashing out at all threatening to keep him from his mate.

_JACOB!_

**CHLOE!**

By the end, when Jacob's mind was back in control, he was standing in the middle of multiple dead bodies…police coming out towards him with their guns aimed at him…and Chloe's scent lost on the wind.

Throwing his head back, the wolf let out a desperate howl.


	11. Chapter 11

The remaining vampires all just  _left_.

It was as if they'd been waiting for something and now that they had it they were gone.

The redheaded female and the blonde male who'd been mostly watching, just grinned as left before the others, and Lois hated them.

She really didn't know  _what_  had happened next, the wolves had gotten up and rushed away. There'd been howling, there'd been  _gunshots_ , and then she'd heard four sets of howls as the wolves rushed away into the woods…all of Forks' police force (a total of three men…two who were over sixty and had a horrible beer gut) trying to race after them yet unable to.

"They must be going after the vampires who took Chloe," Lana realized, looking after them.

"What are we going to do with the bodies?" Bart asked, body shaking.

Lois turned to look at him. She could understand how he was so shaken up. He'd just gone through such a horrible ordeal, and now he'd killed for the first time.

The League were  _known_  for their  _NO KILLING_  policy…

She sighed.

Lana blinked. "Oh my god."

Lois turned to see what Lana was looking at…in time to see the bodies of the vampires slain  _melt into nothing_. It was like they'd had something installed in their bodies that after their deaths they would melt and leave no traces of themselves behind.

"That's-," Lana began.

" _Disturbing,_ " Bart finished.

Lois motioned for them to follow her back into the store and up into the apartment. She went to the window, looking down, relieved to see the three police going back to their office, empty-handed. The men looked extremely frustrated…which meant that they hadn't gotten any of the wolves.

And then they saw the melted liquid on the ground where the bodies used to be…and their horror and confusion was obvious on their faces as they rubbed their heads and pointed.

Okay.

They had that part under control…nothing to worry about.

Bart hurried to the landline and grabbed it, marking some numbers and putting the phone to his ear, waiting. "Boss. It's me, Bart. We need backup. 'Licious was nabbed by some bloodsuckers and we don't know where they've taken her."

Lois and Lana both turned to Bart, kinda embarrassed that the thought of calling in the League for help hadn't crossed their minds.

The door downstairs banged shut.

Lois hurried to the door to the stairs and opened it, watching as Jacob, Leah, Embry and Paul, now human and pulling on clothes, hurried up towards them.

Jacob pushed passed her. "They have Chloe. I couldn't get to her on time-there were just too many of them."

"Wait Boss, Jacob looks like he saw her last. I'm passing the phone to him now." Bart did as said, passing the phone to Jacob and turning to smile sheepishly at Leah as the female wolf hurried towards him, worried. "I'm  _fine_  Leah. It' not the first fight I've been in."

"They were  _bloodsuckers_ , Bart, not mutants. It's  _different_! We didn't even know if you were  _capable_  of killing one!" Leah snapped at him, slapping his head. "Stop being so self-confident! You could have been hurt!"

Bart shrugged, not very worried about her wrath.

Lana and Embry held each other, making sure, desperately, that the other was safe and sound and in the other's arms.

Lois looked up at Paul, unable to see him quite in the same way now that she'd finally seen his wolf.

Paul raised an eyebrow at her. "What the  _hell_  was this about you working for Chief Swan?"

Lois snorted, shaking her head at him.

"Yeah, that's what I said…he said  _Volturi_ … _no_  I don't know how it's  _spelt_! Spell it how it sounds!" Jacob snapped at the person on the other end of the phone. "Get Lex on it! He'll find her!"

Lana and Lois exchanged surprised looks at Jacob's confidence in Lex's abilities.

Then again, Jacob knew that Lex loved Chloe too and would do all in his power to find her and keep her safe.

"Hey Lex…yeah…" Jacob went to look out of the window with a sigh. "I-I couldn't get to her on time-there were just too many…yeah…yeah…I know—but my best just wasn't enough!" He slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a dent in it. "What sort of wolf am I if I can't even protect my mate?!"

Paul and Embry shared knowing looks, obviously understanding this feeling.

Leah sighed and folded her arms over her chest.

"What chips?" Jacob frowned.

Lana and Lois' eyes widened as they palmed the back of their necks in remembrance.

"You put  _chips_  in them?" Jacob turned to look at the two girls in question in shock. "And by activating it you can triangulate Chloe's location?"

"What's he talking about?" Paul asked Lois, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I'd forgotten all about it," Lois admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "We all have chips inserted underneath our skin that are all connected to Lex's computer in case something like this happened…he'd be able to track us down easily."

"Which is why I called them in the first place," Bart announced, more in charge and looking like his old self than he'd been in a while. "With that chip activated we can easily find 'Licious and bring her back to Wolf Boy."

For the first time Leah didn't growl at the pet name Bart had for Chloe, nodding in agreement. "Those bloodsuckers went after the wrong girl."

There was a gust of wind, and suddenly in front of them stood Clark Kent and Oliver Queen in civvies.

"Tell us  _everything_  that happened," Oliver ordered, getting down to business immediately.

The wolves and mutants nodded before beginning.

* * *

Chloe didn't know what had happened.

One minute she'd been sitting on the body of the dead vampire, and then the next it was as if every single sense of hers had been shut off. She couldn't see, hear,  _feel_  anything. She was a limp, lifeless doll trapped in a sea of black.

And then…and then she was alive again, lying upon a bed of Egyptian cotton.

Sitting up in the large, glorious bed, Chloe looked around her, trying to figure out what in the world had happened and where she was.

"You finally woke up."

She turned towards the sound, seeing a younger girl, blonde…no…those eyes…she was a vampire.

"You know, you've had Aro and the others intrigued since we heard word of your existence. You and that of your kind." The young blonde vampire pushed away from the wall she'd been leaning on, eyebrow raised, expression apathetic. "Everyone wonders what exactly you are, and if you're dangerous."

Chloe snorted. " _You're_  the  _vampires_. I doubt you should be worried about  _me_."

"I believe so too." The blonde nodded in agreement, ruby eyes on Chloe. "Then again, Alec was very impressed by you, which was why you were the chosen one."

"Chosen one?" Chloe stood up from the bed slowly, warily.

"Feline agility, speed greater than that of a vampire, and the ability to change molecules in one's body into that of something she touches-and yet  _you_  were the one chosen." She tilted her head, looking Chloe up and down. "You are…impressive."

Chloe snorted. "I'm nothing special." She kept her eyes narrowed. " _Personally_ … I think you've got the wrong girl."

The vampire shook her head. "I would have thought so too by just looking at you, but the test was filmed for our viewing pleasure upon Alec's arrival." She was silent for a moment. "I have never seen someone drain our life force out of us before like you did to the outside help we hired for this test."

Confused, the metahuman wasn't exactly sure what the vampire was talking about, before her eyes widened and her memory returned to her. Her hand went to her charm, now cool to the touch and not burning hot as it had been when she'd done that inexplicable thing.

Drain the life-force out of a vampire?

How-?

She was a  _healer_ …she didn't  _drain_ …

…did she?

"I am Jane," the vampire introduced herself, leaning against one of the bed's posts, eyeing Chloe. "My twin, Alec, was the one who brought you to us."

Chloe really couldn't remember being brought here. "I'm…Chloe."

"I know." Jane nodded. "And you're awake. You will come with me. The Royals are waiting for you."

She wanted to question.

 _God_  she wanted to question, but Chloe's instincts just told her to do as told, so she nodded, walking barefoot against the carpeted floor, following the female vampire out of the room into the long hall.

All around her were glories and grandeur, and Chloe couldn't help but think she wasn't in America anymore.

Chloe was silent, observant, and when Jane led her into a large throne room, she grew wary. Three vampires sat on the thrones, one an extremely apathetic looking brunet, another a blonde and with cruel features, and in the middle stood another more kingly male with shoulder-length jet black hair.

"Ah, she has awaken." The one in the middle stood with a pleasant smile, stepping off of the elevated platform on which the thrones rested and coming towards her. "And doesn't she look lovely?"

Chloe frowned, looking down at her clothes, realizing that she was wearing a black dress. While she was glad that she wasn't in the torn clothes she'd been wearing before, the fact that some bloodsucker had changed her while she was unconscious was very unnerving.

"You must have so many questions," he declared, clasping his hands in front of him as he looked at her. "I am Aro, and these are my brethren, Caius and Marcus. And we are the leaders of the Volturi."

"I  _would_  say 'nice to meet you', but since I don't know  _why_  I'm meeting you, I'll refrain from saying it," Chloe responded softly, not trusting any of the vampires around her. "Why am I here? Why haven't you killed me? Why were my friends and I  _tested_?"

Aro looked at her oddly. "When word of a strange new race popping up in the Americas reached our ears, we were wary. Only recently have we been able to extinguish the werewolf race in Europe, and yet here was another race who has come up against us and  _killed_  our kind. We were…  _curious_  as to what you were."

"You could have just ask…  _Sir_." Chloe's eyes went to the guard circling the room, to the two vampires still on their thrones, and then to Aro once more. "I can  _heal_  people if I want to." She raised her chin high. "Now can I go?"

Aro seemed more amused than insulted with her insolent behavior. "Is that what you did? Did you  _heal_  that vampire who would have defiled you?"

Chloe flinched.

She didn't  _know_  what she'd done to that vampire or  _how_.

"I'm a metahuman," she explained warily. "I heal. So whatever I did to that vampire, it had to be some sort of healing. I  _heal_."

"A  _meta_ human? As in…an enhanced human being? How… _fascinating_." Aro smiled pleasantly. "There are those amongst us as well who have special  _abilities_. I myself am able to boast of one." He reached his hand to her as a gentleman to a lady he was asking to a dance. "Shall I show you what it is?"

Chloe gulped, knowing that she couldn't fight against him alone, much less with the multiple vampires here. He was going to do whatever he had planned whether she wanted to let him or not.

Taking in a deep breath, Chloe placed her hand in his cold one.

A gasp escaped her lips as a jolt arched her body, and her mind was invaded, images flickered through, going back to the fight, as Chloe fought against the vampires pathetically, being thrown back and forth, into the wall, into the dumpster, onto the  _ground_.

And then that vampire was…and she was…and…and she killed him…over and over again. It was as if just as it was played out someone had pressed the rewind and she was where she'd begun, screaming like an animal as she straddled the vampire and forced all the blood and the green poison that had created the vampire in the first place, out of his every orifice, somehow paralyzing the vampire while doing it.

Another gasp was snatched from Chloe as Aro let go of her hand and she was brought back to the present, breathing in and out, heart racing in terror and adrenaline.

"The  _power_ …" Aro hissed in pleasure, as if he touch  _taste_ it. " _Magnificent_." He turned to a female. " _Chelsea_."

The vampire nodded and turned towards the metahuman.

Chloe looked up at the vampire, eyes narrowed, wary of her. "Stay right there you onion-skinned  _bitch_!"

Chelsea stopped, eyes narrowed and angry at the insult.

Jane's face was passive, and yet her eyes seemed amused.

Chloe turned to Aro, eyes narrowed. "If you kill me my friends will  _destroy_  you."

Aro smiled ever so pleasantly at her. "My dear child, who ever spoke of  _killing_  you?"

She froze, confused. "Then if… if you're not going to kill me… then why am I  _here_?"

"Think of it… as  _further_  enhancement," the leader of the Volturi purred.

Chloe's eyes widened in horror as she understood what the vampire was saying. "No.  _NO!_ " She shook her head, taking two steps backwards. "I won't allow you to! I'll force the venom out! I won't let you—I won't-!"

Jacob wouldn't want her anymore if she was a bloodsucker.

" _Chelsea_."

"Yes Aro." Chelsea nodded.

Chloe gasped, bringing her hand to her heart, feeling the conflicting emotions inside of her go  _wild_. " _What's happening_?"

"You will enjoy life as a part of the guard," Aro assured her, reaching for her hand and leading her to a separate room, Chelsea following close, concentrating on Chloe.

The metahuman was confused.

She…why was she fighting this again?

There-there'd been a reason  _why_  she hadn't wanted to be a part of this…right?

Aro motioned for her to lay down on the bed, still holding her arm.

Chloe looked up at Aro.

He-he was such a good leader.

It was obvious that just the fact that he wanted her as a part of his guard was the greatest honor she'd have ever received in her life.

Chloe smiled up at Aro.

Chelsea smirked. "It is done."

Aro nodded, motioning the girl out of the room, before turning to Chloe. "Sweet dreams…"

And with that he bit down on her wrist, and all of agony.

* * *

"She's in  _Italy_?" Jacob exclaimed, unable to believe it, as they all stood around the computers in the Clock Tower. Clark and Bart had both taken everyone from Forks to Metropolis where Lex was trying to work from the League's Headquarters. "How did they get her to  _Italy_  this quickly?"

"My best guess is Private Jet." Oliver frowned, turning to Lex. "Can you triangulate her location in Italy?"

"I'm trying to, and I nearly had it, but something happened and the chip went haywire," Lex answered, still typing furiously into the keyboard. "Something's messing up with the signal being transmitted through the chip."

"Is there anyway you can reconfigure it and get the triangulation?" Lois wanted to know. "If you can even get us the name of the  _city_  Jacob can track her down."

Jacob nodded his agreement.

"I'm working on it, but this signal is so messed up, it might take a few days."

" _Days_?" Lana snapped. "She could be dead by then!"

"Look, if they went to all of that trouble to take her, I doubt it was to just  _eat_  her, okay?" Lex snapped back. "They have a reason for wanting Chloe  _alive_ , and that's all we have to go by so just  _shut up_  and let me do my job!"

"Don't  _talk_  to her like that!" Embry snapped.

Lana put her hand on his arm. "Don't. He's right."

"Can't you trace her heartbeat like you usually do?" Bart turned to Clark.

The alien shook his head. "No. I've been trying to, but its messed up somehow and I can't get a reading on it. I mean, it's still  _there_ , but other than that my hearing will be no good on this mission."

" _Dammit_." Paul growled.

"What have you found out about the Volturi?" Jacob asked Lex.

"Nothing so far, but I'm running extensive searches on all forms of variations of the spelling of that word to see if we get any hits. Maybe  _that_  will give us some idea of what in the  _world_  Chloe's gotten herself into  _this_  time."

Jacob closed his eyes, face agonized. "What can I do to help?"

Lex looked up at him and sighed, patting his arm. "Be strong, Jacob. She's going to need us  _all_  strong."

Jacob nodded, but Lois saw the deep agony in his face, and while she was worried about her Baby Cuz, she began to worry about Pole Boy as well.

"It's the Imprint," Paul whispered to her, as if having read her mind. "If she gets hurt-."

Lois nodded, understanding. "We'll get her back." She looked out of the window. "We  _have_  to."


	12. Chapter 12

The screams could still be heard from that locked room as the vampires held council.

Chelsea remained in the background, one hand gripping her arm tightly, refusing to let show how much it was trembling. She'd-she'd managed to manipulate Chloe's ties to her old life well enough before the bite…but now…now something was fighting Chelsea's hold over Chloe's emotional ties and it was fighting  _strong_.

Nothing like this had ever happened to the vampire before.

Her powers were strong.

They were  _godlike_.

She'd managed to erase all feelings and ties to Chloe's old life…except  _one_.

It was strong and it was determined and it was  _fighting back_.

She had a sneaking suspicion it might be love.

It was a little different than love, though the emotion was there.

It was a bond of some sort, a bond that was refusing to be broken.

And it was  _hurting_  Chelsea.

"Are you unwell?" Afton, her husband and part of the guard, whispered to her as the others conversed amongst themselves.

She shook her head, refusing to show any weakness to anyone. "I am well."

Her blood-red eyes closed as that bond seemed to  _bite_  her from within.

She closed her hand tightly, arm shaking, body taxed as she continued to try and hold her control over Chloe, to fight against this bond and break it, like she had every other one within that girl.

But it  _clawed_  and it  _ripped_.

She hissed in pain, drawing the attention on Afton and the vampires closest to her.

Humiliation raged high in her.

It was as if a wild, furious animal had been left inside of her, and it was trying to claw its way to freedom through her bones, her muscles and skin.

Chloe screamed in agony from inside of the room.

The vicious animal inside of Chelsea went  _wild_.

She fell to her knees in the middle of the throne room and doubled over at the agony, her screams now rising in the air and mixing with Chloe's.

* * *

Boarding the Queen Private Jet, Jacob felt a little nausea, and he knew that his fellow wolves felt the same way. Wolves were meant to stay on the ground-the heavens were the territory of the  _birds_ -and yet they made their way to their seats and sat down, buckling themselves with the weird plane seatbelts.

Jacob sat by himself, watching as Leah dragged Bart to their seats, Lana and Embry sat leaning against each other, and Lois sat arguing softly with Paul about her job with Sheriff Swan-which she would lose if she didn't go to work tomorrow-not that that train of thought seemed to worry her in the least bit.

Sam, Jared and Quil had joined.

When one's imprint was in danger they whole pack joined together to help save her.

Jacob tore his gaze from them and looked out of the window.

While Lex was still unable to get a stable reading from the chip, he was able to find out information on the Volturi after an insane amount of hacking. Apparently they were what one would consider vampire  _royalty_ , and while at night they were known as patrons of the  _arts_ , during the day they dealt with vampiric matters, ruling others with an iron fist and making sure that their existence wasn't exposed to others.

It didn't exactly explain why they'd taken Chloe and not the rest (since they  _all_  knew about the vampires), but it gave them some insight on who it was they were dealing with. And it also gave them the city in which the Volturi reigned.

 _Volterra, Italy_.

This was why they were all on a jet, with some other mutant friends of Chloe's Jacob hadn't met before today, all heading to Volterra, where he was sure he'd be able to pick up her scent and find where it was the Volturi had their lair…and had  _his mate_.

"Don't worry." Lex sat down next to Jacob, pulling a laptop out of his bag and beginning to work, still trying to figure out  _what_  was wrong with the chip. "We'll get to her and when she's free she'll probably beat us all up for taking so long."

Jacob snorted, with wry amusement. "How can you be this calm? I-if anything happened to her-."

"You're her mate, Jacob, so you're going to have to realize that Chloe is  _always_  getting herself into these sorts of situations." Lex didn't look up from the screen. "We're just going to have to get her out of this like we always do."

Jacob frowned as the jet began its way down the runway, about to take off. "I can't be calm and take this like just another misadventure! Chloe's my  _mate_! I know she hasn't accepted me as such, and I  _won't_  pressure her to-but I want her safe! That's all I want! If something happened to her-!"

"Two things at worse could happen to her." Lex's face was serious. "They could kill her…and she'd come back pissed at  _everyone_ …or they could  _change_  her."

Jacob froze. " _What_?"

Lex turned to Jacob and looked at him for the first time since sitting down next to her. "Would she still be your mate if she had crimson eyes? Would you still want her?"

"Yes." He really didn't need to think the question over. "She-she would still be  _Chloe_."

He'd be with her even if-even if-even if it went against every single thing he'd been taught since changing.

"There's a good chance that your imprint would die the moment she did," Lex said slowly, carefully. "You wouldn't be obliged-."

Jacob's eyes narrowed and he snarled, grabbing Lex by his shirt and lifting him up, skin rippling, wolf wanting to escape and chomp his head off. "I'm not  _obliged_  to want her or protect her! Even if my wolf didn't recognize its mate anymore I'd still want  _Chloe!_  NOT because she's my mate and my wolf wants her-because  _I_  want her!"

And then Lex did the most confusing thing ever.

He smiled.

Confused, Jacob let go of him.

Lex chuckled and shook his head. "I kinda already knew that answer. I just wanted  _you_  to know that so that you will have already gotten over it and would be ready when you finally see her."

Jacob was confused more than ever. "What?" His eyes then widened. "You think she's being changed-that  _that_ is what's interfering with the chip-the  _venom_."

Lex nodded.

Jacob sat down.

It didn't make any difference.

Even with crimson eyes he'd love her.

Even if he got thrown out of the pack he'd never leave her side.

Even if…even if he had to go against every single principle taught to him.

_I'll always be hers and love her._

Suddenly, it was like something that'd been holding him back  _broke_ , and inside of him  _burnt like hell_.

Doubling over in the worst pain he'd ever felt, Jacob cried out in pain as his whole body shook, his skin rippling and yet unable to shift at the agony.

"Jacob?" He could hear those around him hurrying to him.

He snapped and snarled and growled despite Sam's Alpha commands to calm down.

He could  _sense_  her.

She was screaming too.

For the first time ever Jacob could feel the imprint bond he'd heard Sam and the others talking about…and that bond was  _alive_ , snapping and furious and yet it was losing the battle, slowly but surely.

 _No_.

Someone was trying to break that bond.

That bond that had yet to ripen and blossom into the most beautiful thing Jacob could have ever hoped for.

_NO!_

He opened the channel between him and Chloe, letting her draw energy and strength from him through their bond.

And then the pain was too much and he fainted dead away.

* * *

Chelsea's body convulsed as she screamed in agony.

It was like a millions mouths eating her from the inside.

She'd thought-she'd thought she'd been winning, the bond had been weakening, and yet all of a sudden a burst of animalistic  _power_  had strengthened it, and she couldn't-she was going  _insane_  with the pain.

It was as if the bond was drawing power from somewhere else, and it was punishing her by devouring her from within.

She didn't know how much longer she could hold this-could continue the process.

"Chelsea!" Her husband was by her side, trying to lift her and yet her body spasmed and shook and her arms and legs jerked viciously, making it impossible.

Chloe's heartbeat still could be heard beating rapidly, but healthy.

" _Fascinating_." Aro's voice was amazed.

"I-I  _can't_ -!" Chelsea screamed, the connection between her and Chloe  _SNAPPING_ , a scream of utter oblivion escaping her lips as she slumped into darkness.

* * *

Jacob's eyes shot open.

"It's working." Lex's voice could be heard saying. "I don't know what happened, but her chip's working again. It's weak, but the signal is clear. I've triangulated the exact location she's being kept. … How long till we land?"

"An hour." Oliver answered.

Jacob shot up. "I'm going to  _kill_  them  _all_."

They all turned to him, before their eyes widened.

Leah blinked. "Black-what happened to your  _eyes_?"

"What?" Jacob asked, confused.

Standing he got up, the pack parting to let him through, and he went at the bathroom, eyes widening when he looked at his reflection.

His eyes had bled black, like a vampire in bloodlust.

* * *

Even though they usually left the room of one being changed sealed tight for the protection of the one being turned, after what had happened with Chelsea, Aro found himself unable to stay away. He stood above Chloe's bed. She'd stopped screaming, and he stood witness as the green venom seeped out of her pores, slithering up her body to gather in the charm on her necklace.

Just like the venom from the one she'd killed.

The pendant glowed bright green.

" _Fascinating_." He could feel the change in her, venom still present in her body, and yet most of it was in that charm, or making its way to the charm, and the venom in her bloodstream being purified, healed,  _changed_.

This had never happened before.

Either the victim died or was turned into one of their kind.

 _Never_  had they fought of  _stored_  the venom like this before.

Then again, they'd never tried changing a  _metahuman_  before.

It was quite exhilarating, having something  _new_  to play with.

The process took three agonizing days in which one's throat was sore after all of the endless screaming.

Yet the blonde was silent, face made up in slight discomfort, and yet that was it.

At least Chelsea's powers had worked to the point of blotting out all loyalty Chloe had had to her old friends and group. Although, there was that one bond that Chelsea had been unable to undo, the bond that'd left her bedridden, with Afton by her side and Heidi out searching for humans to feed her to try and strengthen her once more.

That was a strong bond.

And it was a little worrisome.

But they'd ended the werewolf wars in Europe and needed a new sort of excitement. Why not this?  _Whatever_ this was?

Aro watched his new acquisition was fascination and quite a bit of uncharacteristic excitement. "What waits us when you awake?"

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

"We're being invaded," Jane told Aro in her emotionless way, eyebrow raised. "I believe it's  _her_  friends." Her crimson gaze rested on Chloe Sullivan, wearing Volturi robes, a hood covering her face, standing silently next to Aro.

She'd awoken only a couple of hours after being bitten, paler, yet  _alive_. Her blood gave no appetizing scent to the vampires around, as appealing as  _mud_. She wasn't one of them, and yet she wasn't what she'd once been either.

She was a mixture.

The first of her kind as far as they knew.

Aro was quite eager to play with his new toy and see what things she could do.

"The one she has a bond to is amongst them," Marcus announced with a sigh, using his gift to sense the relationships between people. "That might prove to be a problem, with Chelsea too ill to leave her bed and break their ties to each other."

"We can easily take them," Demetri scoffed, self-assure.

"Don't be too sure of yourself." Alec shook his head at him with a sneer. "These are a mixture we've never fought before, Metahuman and Wolf  _Skinwalker_. I  _saw_  what they did to the vampires we hired to attack them in Washington, they are  _very_  strong when united."

Caius twitched on his throne at the 'W' word.

Ever since he'd nearly been killed while fighting with a werewolf centuries ago he'd developed a fear and intense hatred of werewolves, or of wolves themselves, and had been the one to instigate, and participate most viciously, in the Werewolf Wars.

"We have been waiting for an opportunity like this to arise ever since we heard word of the existence of these new races. This is wonderful opportunity to show the world how  _no_  race is stronger than ours," Aro announced carelessly, hand going to Chloe's cloak-covered shoulder. "Won't it be  _fun_  to see their reaction when they behold their comrade?"

Jane smirked, always appreciating Aro's dark humor…and the promise of a good fight.

"We should pit her up against one of them, test her abilities and how they've grown," Caius decided, a cruel expression ever-present on his features. "Preferably against a  _wolf_."

"I agree." Marcus nodded, showing rare interest. "It would be amusing."

The girl, Chloe just stood still and silently throughout it all, hood covering the top half of her face.

Jane eyed her, curious despite herself.

She'd been the only one there with Aro, leaning in a bored fashion against the wall, when the blonde had awoken. Her eyes had been black with a vampire's bloodlust, and Aro had seemed quite excited by this, ordering Jane to bring in a 'light snack' to dampen the hunger.

Returning with a squirming, fighting man, Jane had thrown him into the room and then entered herself, locking the door, leaning against it to make sure that he had no way of getting out.

A smirk had then made its way onto her face at the terror in his scent, anxious to see the blonde's first kill.

Chloe had gotten up, confused and disoriented, which was to be expected with the mixture of having fought off most of the venom in her system, purifying the rest, and having Chelsea's powers battling with her mind and her bonds, tearing each and every one (except  _that_  one) into irreparable ribbons.

Aro had urged her to eat, to sate her hunger enough to keep her till the banquet that would be held tonight. The bond Chelsea had forced between Chloe and Aro caused the blonde to nod and turn towards the shivering man.

He'd screamed as she'd descended on him, her strength increased as she'd trapped him against the wall, teeth piercing the flesh at his shoulder, and biting down.

He howled in pain at the way her teeth cut into his skin, and he struggled, whimpering.

Only whimpering.

And  _coherent_.

That was when Jane had realized that Chloe's bite held  _no venom_.

She'd never be able to sire another.

Aro's face had been the picture of intrigue as he'd watched her drink from her victim before pulling away while he was still very much alive, blood draining down her lips as the man sunk to the ground, holding his bleeding neck and crying.

But he'd live.

That much was obvious.

Jane had been intrigued.

She could  _see_  why Aro wished to keep this one close and just  _observe_  her.

A millennia of routine made things  _boring_ , and this was a new way to  _spice_  up an unlife.

Aro had urged Chloe to finish the human off, to drink to her heart's content.

And then she'd looked up at them, her eyes a brilliant crimson, the color of a vampire well fed and sated on human's blood.

But it usually took a whole human, or maybe  _two_  depending on the size of the vampire, to fill them…and a fledgling was  _known_  for insatiable bloodlust.

And yet this one was filled.

Aro had motioned for Jane to do with the human as she pleased, so she'd finished him off herself, surprised at just how  _much_  blood was still left in his body, before giving his lifeless corpse to one of the lower guard to dispose of.

Jane smirked at Chloe.

How would her  _friends_  react when they saw her crimson eyes and realized that she'd drunk from a human?

They'd undoubtedly believe she'd taken a life.

Would they be so desperate to take her back once they believed this?

Her smirk turned darker.

 _This_ _ **will**_ _be amusing_.

* * *

With Lex guiding them through an earpiece, the united metahuman and shifter forces fought their way through the underground, maze-like Volturi palace. With his voice in their ears telling them were to go to reach Chloe's signal, and their deep determination, they easily sliced through the vampires that charged at them, trying desperately to keep them from their goal.

In his wolf form, Jacob was beginning to feel desperate as he tore yet  _another_  vampire in half before pouncing on another that'd been charging Lana.

Laurel used her Canary Call to  _blow up_  a group of vampires that'd been charging them.

Zantana used magic to cremate every single corpse to make sure they didn't 'return', and set afire a couple of vampires whom the rest hadn't gotten to as yet.

Andrea used her super human agility and strength to evade the vampire's grasp and yet tear their heads off of their bodies and kick said heads away as if she were kicking a soccer ball, a wickedly amused expression on her masked face.

According to Lois, neither of the women were officially part of the League, but had all been helped by Chloe during different hard times in their lives, and it was her who'd helped them turn from their ways and use their abilities for good-so once word got out that Chloe needed rescuing the females (who were a part of their own fighting team very similar to the League or Chloe, Lana and Lois's group) had joined up immediately to help get the blonde back.

The bond between Chloe and him  _throbbed_ , and Jacob whimpered slightly, looking up towards the direction he could feel it, catching his own reflection in one of the frames of the many portraits on the wall.

He went still.

His eyes.

They weren't black anymore.

They were  _crimson_.

She'd  _fed_.

Jacob growled, fury entering him as he took off, leading the way, not needing Lex's guidance anymore.

He could  _scent_  her.

The others hurried behind him as he tore through the guards standing outside of two huge doors, and Jacob barged through with his huge, canine body, snarling in fury, the scent of vampire thick in the room and stinging his nose with it horrible  _sweetness_.

Where  _was_  she?

He couldn't see her.

He could scent her…even if her scent had changed slightly…and he could hear her heartbeat loud within this room of death and silence…

She was still alive.

And yet she'd  _fed_.

He was confused, and it only infuriated him more as he went to charge, the others having caught up with him and charged at the vampires around them also.

But then all was  _agony_.

They-they fell to their knees, the wolves shifting to their naked, human forms involuntarily, as the pain wracked their heads, burning them from within.

It was unlike anything they'd ever felt before.

"Which one?" The one in the middle throne asked the brown haired vampire standing next to him.

The vampire looked around them before pointing to Jacob, who was withering on the ground in agony, but still glaring furiously at them.

"The  _wolf_?" The one in the middle looked shocked.

A small blonde female sneered at that.

A blonde on the other throne hissed.

"Makes sense," a vampire who looked the age of the young blonde one announced, causing them to look at him in question. "That's why Chelsea couldn't break the bond. It's a  _mating_  bond. It can't be broken,  _ever_."

"This poses a problem." The one in the middle throne, with the jet-black hair, pouted, like a child whose favorite game had been ruined for him.

"Why are his eyes  _crimson_?" The girl asked curiously.

They turned to look at him in curiosity, Jacob snarled at them through his agony as he twitched on the floor.

"It must be the bond." The one with the jet-black hair, who was obviously the leader, stood and stepped down the dais in which the thrones were situated, stepping over the twitching bodies of his enemies like one would avoid an insect, before looking down at Jacob. "How  _fascinating,_ " he declared, smiling once more. "I might just keep you too."

"No one's ever fought against me this hard before." The small female vampire, who was apparently the one inducing this  _agony_  on them, looked  _annoyed_. "He even has the strength to pay attention what were saying…and  _snarl_."

"It's the bond," the brunet on the throne replied, surprising the others. "I can feel it. She tugged on it when Aro tied her as us, and now he's tugging on it, both quite subconsciously though."

"This is so  _intriguing_." The leader turned his back on Jacob, insulting him further by how  _unafraid_  he was of a wolf, as he stalked back up to his throne. "Do you think Chelsea will be able to work her powers on these wolves? They  _would_  make interesting guard dogs."

"Fuck  _you_!" Jacob growled.

Crimson eyes turned on him.

"He's- _speaking_." The blonde vampire blinked, clearly displeased by this.

The leader turned to look at a female standing motionlessly by the throne he'd left, a hood covering the top half of her face…a heartbeat coming from her.

 _Chloe_.

Jacob kept his gaze on her and  _only_  her as he fought back against the agony in his body, the burning torment, and forced himself to his feet, no matter how shakily he did so.

The female vampire took a step backwards, shock widening her crimson orbs. "It—he— _impossible_!"

 _Chloe_.

_Chloe._

_CHLOE!_

She jerked at that last snarl.

_Chloe…_

His mate's hands rose from where they'd been hanging lifeless at her sides, reaching for her hood and raising it from her face, letting it fall back.

Crimson eyes met his, before going to the female vampire, and then to the young male vampire, before returning to him with purpose.

_…Jacob…_

And suddenly, something in their bond  _snapped_ , and Jacob hissed as something freezing entered him through it…but then he realized that the cold was chilling the agonizing burn in his body.

It took a second for him to realize what was going on, and when he did, he didn't waste a moment.

Just as Chloe had drawn on his life source and wolf's essence to fight off the attempt to change her and break their ties…he was drawing on her  _healing_  ability, and it was healing him of whatever it was the vampire was doing.

Shifting, Jacob charged at the young female vampire, who hadn't been ready for his attack, still startled that he was able to move while her power was activated, and he ripped her to  _pieces_ , the power she'd had over the others disappearing.

He didn't stop to enjoy this, instead turning and charging the vampire whom Chloe had looked at as well.

The male was furious, angered, and  _strong_.

Jacob felt his body and senses numbing, the creature obviously using its power on him, and yet the wolf drew more on the link between him and his mate, her power fighting that of this vampire, and soon Jacob had fumbling and yet viciously slaughtered the male.

All around him were the sounds of fighting and death, the vampires lost all of their self-confidence as they found themselves being slaughtered in their own palace.

Jacob turned towards Chloe once more.

She was standing still, looking at the fighting around them with dead eyes, not reacting to the carnage and bloodshed.

Sam had been fighting the blonde seated on one of the thrones, and was visibly injured, but the Alpha landed the killing blow, blood spurting on Chloe's face.

She didn't even blink.

What had they  _done_  to her?

The brunet vampire, who'd been sitting on the throne, didn't even try to defend himself. He'd stood, closed his eyes and held his hands high as Paul had charged him. The last word on his lips had been a blissfully spoken name:  _"Didyme_."

The leader, the one with the jet-black hair, was no where in sight.

 _Chloe_.

She didn't react.

The others chased the vampires out of the room, chasing after them, not prepared to let them get away, determined to end this  _today_.

Jacob stood there, covered in blood, before shifting, becoming human once more as he hurried towards Chloe, stumbling once or twice over the dead vampire bodies on the floor, before stopping right before reaching her.

" _Chloe_."

Her vampire eyes trained on him and then she smiled softly as she whispered his name. " _Jacob_."

Relief filled his soul as he surged forwards and pulled her to him, holding her close. "I'm so sorry. I'll never let anyone hurt you ever again! I swear it!"

Chloe held him close, breathing in his scent in a way that was quite canine before breathing out his name. "Jacob?"

He pulled away, cupping her pale face with his hands, just so glad to have her back with him, safe and sound, and in one piece. "Yes, Chlo?"

She looked up at him, holding onto the front of his shirt, vibrant crimson eyes meeting his. "Who were those people you were with?"

Jacob's eyes widened.

 _Okay_.

Maybe  _not_  in one piece after all.


	14. Chapter 14

Lois Lane had thrown a fit.

Jacob wasn't surprised, as they all sat in the Clocktower, Chloe curled up in his lap, eyes closed as she slept. From what he'd gotten out of her, she admitted to have feeding on a human but not much, and that he'd been very much alive when Jane had taken him away.

As soon as they'd reached the Clocktower Lex had begun conducting as many experiments on her as possible to try and determine what exactly had happened to her when the vampiric venom had been injected into her blood stream, but he was only able to do so after Jacob had convinced Chloe to let him. The blonde couldn't remember anyone but Jacob, so she didn't see Lex as the man she'd loved for so many years. All she saw him as was a stranger with a needle in his hand.

And she'd been  _scared_.

From Lex's preliminary results, they realized that the bond between Jacob and her had done an exchange of sorts, so that the wolf in him and the mutant in her worked together to keep her from turning, but that she had some vampiric tendencies, like tougher skin (though not diamond-hard and glittering), a desire to feed (though she was sated quickly and had no venom) and drinking blood would help her healing powers be  _stronger_.

They couldn't figure it out though,  _how_  the blood helped.

It was just a vampiric trait similar to her mutant power, and it had enhanced it.

They  _did_  know that her mind was in  _shambles_  though.

Whatever the vampires had done to her to try and break the bonds between her and her friends, the fight between her bond with Jacob and its power had been  _massive_ , and Chloe's mind was a scary mess of broken memories that'd been shattered and burnt and dusted away.

There was nothing else there.

She could remember her life from the moment she first laid eyes on Jacob, and yet nothing more.

There was  _only_  Jacob.

So Lois had thrown a fit.

Chloe, curled in his lap, refusing to be alone in this strange and unfamiliar place… which truly had been once a second home to her… slept off the aches of her body fighting the venom, and then fighting between her bond with Aro and her bond with Jacob.

Her ability to sleep helped the wolves in the room accept that she was still human… or as human as she'd ever truly been.

Zantana, Laurel and Andrea had already left, having their own city that needed their constant protection, but they'd made the League promise to call them and keep them informed on anything that happened with Chloe.

Sam, Quil and Jared had returned to Forks, to be with their mates, telling Jacob to call them if he needed any help.

AC, Victor, Bart and Leah were out getting food for everyone.

This was going to be another long night in the Clocktower.

"What are we going to do?" Lana finally asked, leaning against Embry as she looked at Chloe's sleeping face. "She can't remember anything, and you heard what Lex said, she probably will never remember anything. That she'll never be the Chloe she once was, that personality, the memories of the experiences that formed her character, are gone forever."

"She's  _still_  Chloe though," Lois cut in from where she was pacing endlessly. "Memories or not, she's  _still_  our Chloe."

"And even if she doesn't remember you," Embry told his mate, pilling her closer to his heart. "You can always form  _new_  memories with her."

"What if she doesn't  _want_  to?" Lana whispered, tearing up. "You saw how she looks at us! We're strangers! She's confused and  _terrified_!"

And with that she started crying.

Clark watched as Embry held Lana close and she buried her face in his shirt.

Lois cursed under her breath and stormed to where Paul was leaning against the wall watching her. The brunette surprised him by throwing her arms around his waist and hiding her face in  _his_  shirt as she held tightly, finally letting the tears she'd been holding fall as Lana spoke the fears Lois obviously had been battling these last couple of days.

Paul froze up for a second, completely shocked, before his arms went around her and he held her tightly, resting his cheek against the crown of her head.

Oliver watched them with a small smile.

Chloe whimpered in her sleep.

Jacob looked down at her, worried, wondering what she could be dreaming that had her face so disturbed. " _Chloe,_ " he whispered, giving her a little shake.

She woke up for a second, gaze going to his face, before relaxing, giving him a relieved smile, and falling back to sleep, secure in the knowledge that he was still there.

While he hated the fact that this had been done to her, Jacob had to admit that his wolf rejoiced in the way she accepted him so fully now.

And yet, he didn't want her to have had to sacrifice her memories and her friends for his wolf's ego.

There were so many people who loved her…it was  _wrong_  to want her all to himself, no matter  _what_  his wolf wished.

"Don't worry," Oliver finally spoke. "If there's anyone who can find a way to help Chloe it's Lex. He will not rest until she is back to her old self again."

Clark nodded his agreement. "So you two…don't worry so much. Chloe will feel guilty when she's back to normal when she realizes how bad you two took this."

Lana sniffled against Embry before turning to look at Clark and nodding. "Okay."

Lois ignored Clark, as she usually tended to do, and just continued to hold onto Paul, listening to the soft, nearly inaudible words he was whispering to her.

Jacob sighed, and then later retired to the room in the Clocktower that had been given to him and Chloe. He-he felt  _conflicted_  about sleeping in the same bed as her in this circumstance, but Chloe, mind still in shambles, had pleaded with him not to leave her, and he wouldn't deny his mate anything.

Not when it was his fault, his  _negligence_  in taking care of her, that'd led to her mind being toyed and destroyed so brutally.

He wouldn't touch her though.

Not-not like  _that_.

He  _refused_  to let their first time happen while she was near insane.

He would wait for her to heal, and then they'd progress from there.

The wolf spent most of his nights awake, just watching over her, waking her if she had a nightmare, and holding her until she fell asleep once more. The situation taxed heavily on the blonde, as she tried her best to remember anything and yet was unable to recall even the simplest thing of those she'd loved so greatly.

" _NO!_ " Chloe screamed, jolting up in bed, struggling desperately against him in her sleep-induced disorientation. "Stop!"

" _Chloe! Its me_!" Jacob wrapped her in his arms and trapped her arms against her body so that she couldn't inflict any damage to either him or herself. "Calm down, woman.  _Calm down!_  I'm here! You're safe!"

"No!  _Please_!" She continued to struggle, still not completely out of her dream. "Please don't take them away!  _NO!_ "

Jacob could hear as the door next to theirs, the door to Lois and Paul's room, flew open and hurried footsteps raced out of it only to halt outside of their door, hesitating, Lois knowing her presence wouldn't make the situation better and yet was desperate to enter and comfort her crying, trembling cousin.

 _"Chloe_." Jacob brought his face to hers, trying to reach her. "C'mon. Wake up baby. It's  _me_."

He could scent tears not only belonging to Chloe in the air, and the arrival of Paul at Lois' side.

" _Please,_ " Chloe begged someone only she could see, breaking down in Jacob's arms, clutching his shirt.

Tears of frustration misted his eyes as Jacob closed them tightly, enveloping her completely in his arms, trying to hide and protect her from the monsters that devoured her in her dreams.

His wolf pulled on her through their bond, and only then did she relax, falling completely back into sleep.

For now it was peaceful, but Jacob knew that in a couple hours more she'd be awake again screaming and crying.

It was like this every night.

Even after it had quieted down and Jacob was watching Chloe's restless, sleeping face, he could still scent Lois and Paul outside of their door, and hear the sound of her sobs.

 _Get better, Chloe._  He reached over and pulled a strand of pale blonde hair out of her face.  _Lois needs you_.  _And so do I_.

And yet a week passed, and it was the same routine.

Sometimes Lana joined Lois outside of their bedroom door when Chloe's screams were just too loud to bear, both women's scents filled with despair, their mates' with impotence and rage and sorrow. Lex was known to make rounds, stopping by the door even when she  _wasn't_  screaming in her sleep, just resting his hand against the wood before walking away.

The absence of Chloe, of  _their_  Chloe, was slowly deteriorating the group who loved her to such an awe-inspiring degree.

Jacob wanted her back.

He wanted her to call him Puppy…and even  _Tentacles_.

He just wanted the  _real_  Chloe back.

He'd love her even if she never recuperated, he'd stay by her side for the rest of his life and battle the demons in her mind, but he didn't know if she could survive long like this. She would go completely insane, and would be completely lost to them.

If she wasn't already.

" _NO!_ " Chloe cried out, struggling desperately against his hold. "PLEASE!  _NO!_ "

Jacob sat up and pulled her into him, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, wolf already tugging, begging her to calm down, to slow the terrifyingly rapid beat of her heart before she gave herself a heart attack. "Baby… _Please_!"

" _Please_!" She echoed his cry, whether consciously or not.

Outside Lois and Paul stood, Oliver and Clark at their side, all talking softly to each other, Lois' voice a desperate hiss.

"Stop! Please!  _NO!_ " Chloe sobbed heartbrokenly. " _Bring it back! Give it back!_ "

"Calm down baby, please, you're  _killing_  me," Jacob whispered, a little more desperate.

This was one of her worst episodes yet.

He looked up as the door creaked open, seeing a pale, distraught Lois in the doorway, eyes begging him. He nodded. "Come."

She looked so scared and yet relieved as she hurried towards them, hesitating at the bed, before climbing on, gulping, eyes filled with tears. "Baby Cuz?"

" _Please don't_!" Chloe screamed against Jacob. "PLEASE NO!"

" _Chloe,_ " Lois sobbed, biting down on her bottom lip to keep from breaking down, reaching forwards and placing her hand on Chloe's thigh, rubbing it soothingly. "Calm down, Baby Cuz…Big Cuz is here…So is Pole Boy…" She wiped at the tears falling down her cheeks. "We're not going to let anything hurt you ever again. We  _promise_."

Jacob and Lois' gaze met, both teary-eyed and grateful for the other's presence.

" _Loey,_ " Chloe whispered in her sleep before calming down.

Lois went stiff in shock.

Jacob frowned. "What is it?"

"She called me  _Loey_." Lois broke down crying, bringing her hands to her face. "She used to call me that when she was  _three_."

They hoped…hoped that this was a breakthrough.

But it wasn't.

Chloe still couldn't remember anything when she awoke, and her nights were slowly yet surely getting worse.

It got to the point where Bart and Leah were sitting on the ground, backs against the wall, Embry trying to console Lana, and Oliver, Jacob, Clark and Paul had to physically restrain the screaming blonde in her sleep so that she didn't hurt herself while Lois tried to get through to her cousin through her nightmarish haze.

Chloe's heart had stopped  _twice_.

But her powers would kick hours later and bring her back alive in a wave of agonizing pain.

Jacob was going to gone  _insane_.

The wolf watched as Chloe slept still during her few moments of peace.

The door opened and Lex appeared, looking pale and haggard. "How is she doing?"

"Not good." Jacob wiped his arm over his eyes, wiping the mistiness from them as he looked up at Watchtower. " _Please_  tell me you've found a way to cure her, Lex."

He shook his head with a sigh, sitting on the edge of the bed and giving Chloe a long, agonized look, before turning to face Jacob. "But I might have found someone who can help her-or at least better help us understand what's going on."

Jacob latched onto the little hope that gave him. "What are you talking about?"

"I tracked down an old member of the Volturi, Eleazar. He lives with his mate in the  _Denali_  coven. They're vegetarians and live in Alaska. I just got off of the phone with him, and he's seen something similar, though not to the extent that she's progressed. He can help her."

"A  _vampire_?" Jacob snarled at the very thought. " _No._  They're the reason why she's like this in the first place!"

" _Jacob_ , Eleazar is our only  _hope_." Lex ran his hand over his bald head. "There's no other. He's our  _only_  chance at helping Chloe."

Jacob looked away. "I won't leave her with vampires, Lex."

"You won't have to," the Watchtower of the League announced. "I spoke to Eleazar, and although wolves and vampires aren't known to be the friendliest of associations, he understands what one is willing to do to be with the one he loves, and he doesn't mind you staying with them also."

"He won't mind me there?" Jacob finally let himself hope. "He'll help her?"

"He'll try." Lex nodded. "He's waiting for my call to tell him what you have decided."

Chloe whimpered in her sleep.

"When do we leave?" Jacob asked, getting off of the chair and going to slide in next to her, attention solely on her now.

" _Hell_ , why don't we go  _now_?" A voice asked from the doorway.

Both males turned to see Lois Lane standing there, determined.

Lex sighed, standing. "Lois, the invitation is for Chloe and Jacob only."

"Let me talk to him. If he can understand how someone will do whatever needs to be done for a mate, he'll understand that one will do whatever needs to be done for  _family_ , and those two are the last I  _got_." Lois narrowed her eyes at Lex fiercely. "I'm going  _too_."

In the end, Lois  _easily_  convinced Eleazar, and it was a tearful goodbye, since Lana was returning to Forks with Embry… Leah surprising everyone by stating that she wasn't leaving Metropolis, instead staying by Bart's side and joining the League.

Sam wasn't going to be happy.

No one really cared.

So Oliver, Lex, Jacob, Chloe, Lois and  _Paul_  (who, like Jaocb, refused to let his mate be unprotected around  _vampires_ ) set off on the Queen Private Jet for Alaska.

The Denali coven was waiting for them, the females which dominated the coven quite enthralled with the handsome males who would be joining them, but once Lois punched Tanya for making a pass at Paul, and Jacob ignored every single female in the coven… they left the wolves alone. Lex and Oliver thanked Eleazar for letting their friends stay, and then left, wishing everyone luck.

They all knew they'd need it.

Whenever Jacob wasn't by Chloe's side, he was with Eleazar, learning more about the power the vampire named Chelsea had, and how she broke bonds and forced others on the ones they wished to join the Volturi.

Eleazar had seen vampires battle the power, but he'd never seen one as shattered at Chloe, and he'd been truthful to the wolf, taking him to the side and telling him that he didn't know if he could help her.

But Jacob and Lois didn't lose hope.

The good thing about living with vampires was that there were many very strong people, who didn't sleep, who could help hold Chloe's body down as the nighttime began her horrors.

It took Chloe  _snapping_  during one of those nightmarish nights and  _biting_  Lois for a sudden breakthrough to occur.

As soon as she'd sipped the blood from her cousin she'd calmed down, going still, and looking up at her cousin in shock. " _Lois?"_  In a second it was gone and she was fainted away…

But it was all that mattered.

Chloe had been drinking primarily from Jacob or animals hunted…but now Lois, refusing to believe that it was a fluke like last time, had insisted on being the 'happymeal on legs' the next time Chloe's thirst descended on her.

Paul hadn't liked it.

He hadn't liked it at all.

But he knew better than going against a determined Lois Lane, so he, Eleazar, and Jacob had stood protectively around the females as a confused Chloe looked at Lois.

"Why?" Chloe asked, looking from Lois to Jacob.

"Just, humor me." Lois gave her a confident smile as she offered Chloe her arm.

"But it will  _hurt_." Chloe pulled away from Lois, standing and shaking her head, going to stand behind Jacob. "I don't want to."

Lois stood up and followed her, pulling off her jacket as she did, wearing only a tube top underneath. "Come on, Baby Cuz. Channel your three year old self and  _bite_."

Chloe's face scrunched up. "I was a biter? I-I don't  _remember_!"

Jacob began to worry as her heart rate began to rise once more.

"Bite me, Chloe. BITE ME!" Lois ignored his warning growl, shaking her cousin furiously. "Or do you  _not_  want to remember?"

"I want to!" Chloe snapped. "I  _do_!"

"Then bite me!" Lois snapped back.

"I don't  _want_  to!" Chloe screamed, trying to struggle away.

And then Lois  _slapped_ her.

Chloe stilled, hand to her face, eyes flashing black, her fight with her demon's side visible on her face. "Don't-!"

Lois slapped her  _again_.

And Chloe  _snapped_.

Snarling she pushed Lois against the wall and sunk her teeth into the flesh of her neck, the scent of Lois' blood filling the air, causing Eleazar to stiffen and Paul to growl as he fought his wolf's scream for him to tear Chloe off of his mate.

Lois winced in pain before bringing her arms up and  _hugging_ Chloe as she drank from her.

Jacob watched, heart breaking.

If this didn't work…

Then he realized something.

Chloe was  _crying_.

They  _both_  were.

Chloe's arms went around Lois' waist and Lois's around hers as the blonde drank and they both cried.

It was the first time that Chloe had ever allowed anyone other than him to touch her.

She was calmer, more at ease when it was over, her saliva healing the bite marks on her cousin's neck when she was finished. She'd looked up at Lois with the first spark of  _feeling_  other than frustration or fear, and that night, while she still suffered from the nightmares…it wasn't as bad as it usually was.

To a vampire, blood was the most powerful thing that existed.

And the blood tie between Lois and Chloe was the key ingredient they'd overlooked.

From that day on Lois wouldn't allow anyone else feed her cousin, and while Chloe wasn't the girl Jacob had met, she was slowly opening up, she was smiling, and she was able to sleep longer and longer portions of the night without any nightmares to terrify her.

The blood seemed to make up for whatever had broken when her bonds had been ripped, her mind tattered, and Lois' blood combined with Chloe's healing abilities. With every feeding Chloe got stronger, and  _saner_ , until she was laughing and friendly and snarky like she'd once been.

"Don't feel too bad, Pole Boy." Lois clapped his back proudly the dawn after the first night that Chloe slept through the whole night without one interruption or nightmare. "My blood, like everything else about me, is just naturally superior."

Jacob didn't have it in him to argue that.

He'd pulled the stunned brunette into his arms and hugged her before breaking down crying. " _Thank you_."

She'd been stiff in shock, before her arms went around him and she hugged back, the two people who loved Chloe the most just so  _happy_.

"Should I be worried?" Paul asked, amused from the doorway.

Lois and Jacob pulled away, laughing, before Lois went to Paul. "'Course you should." With that she led him out of the room. "Let's call the others and let them know."

Taking in a deep breath, Jacob wiped at his eyes and smiled at Chloe as he pulled off his shirt and climbed into bed with her.

The blonde gave a contented sound in her sleep and turned towards him. " _Jacob_...." She purred happily as his arms went around her in bed.

She mightn't have her memories back, and she mightn't get them back, but Jacob didn't care about that anymore.

She was going to be okay.

That was all that mattered.

Chloe could make new memories, and now that she was sane once more, she could make  _new_  bonds with those around her.

Jacob pressed a kiss to her forehead and smiled, closing his eyes, before falling asleep next to her, dreaming of the future that'd just opened up to them.


End file.
